Copy 1 



PaRTY YEARS' 

'* HOG r . ■. „ :'™ 



A'J^iMVt<J0Y 




Class. 



j^l-^^aI 



Book LaL 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 





-^Z-CC^i^ 




Forty Years' Experience 
of a Practical Hog Man 



A practical book for the 
pure bred swine breeder 
and farmer. Written 
from actual experience 
of forty years in j^uccess- 
fully handling- a larg-e 
herd of pure bred hog-s 



By A. J. LOVEJOY 






Springfield, Illinois 

The Frost Publishing; Company 

1914 






Copyright 1914 by 
A. J. LOVEJOY 



•MAY -4 !9'4 



A MAN WHO WILL BE REMEMBERED. 

Andrew J. Lovejoy is one of the foremost benefactors 
of American agriculture. His constructive work as a 
swine breeder, his honesty and ability in public offices 
which he has accepted in the interest of the common good, 
his enterprise and contagious enthusiasm as a farmer, his 
competence and fairness as a judge of pedigreed swine, his 
simplicity and forcefulness as a speaker and writer upon 
practical questions relating to animal husbandry and farm- 
ing, his wise and far-sighted counsel in the management 
of shows and agricultural organizations, his loyal friend- 
ship and good-will for an exceedingly large circle of ac- 
quaintances, and his big, warm heart that makes him a 
welcome and enkindling personality among men, are the 
outstanding qualities for which he will be long remember- 
ed. He has deserved the honor and the success which 
have come to him. From the role of a stout-hearted 
notion and dry-goods wagon peddler, upon the long 
roads of central Illinois in the days of his ambitious 
youth, he rose steadily and worthily to the dignified 
position of a farm owner and widely known breeder 
of pure-bred hogs. As a vendor of goods he spe- 
cialized in quality. When he became a Swine breeder 
he held to his business ideals, and sought steadfastly to 
deliver Swine goods of the highest quality. The annals 
of the trade testify to his triumphs in this sphere. He is 
the author of an inspiring, useful and untarnished career, 
which is still in flower, and his wide and extended experi- 
ence and unique abilities qualify him for the other kind of 
authorship which this book creditably represents. 

DeWitt C. Wing. 



Forty Years' Expbuiience of a Practical Hog Man. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The Author of this book has not undertaken to write a 
thesis on the swine breeding business, nor to give the his- 
tory of the various breeds, but having commenced the busi- 
ness of swine breeding when quite a young man and follow- 
ing it for practically forty years, he has been requested to 
write this book, along practical lines of breeding, feeding^ 
care and selling of hogs, both for the market and for breed- 
ing purposes. 

Starting with a pair of young pigs way back in the dim 
distance, the business of breeding hogs was commenced by 
the writer. Knowing nothing whatever in the beginning, 
the only way anything has been learned has been by actual 
experience during all these years, finding out each day 
something that must be learned. This experience has been 
very costly, but that learned at the greatest expense one 
never forgets. 

For many years the writer did all his own work in the 
business of swine breeding and feeding as well as showing, 
and he gained in knowledge as he gained in experience. 1 
cannot recall any labor or duties connected with the feed- 
ing and breeding of swine that I have not carried on per- 
sonally, and step by step have grown in the business from 
the smallest possible beginning until a trade has been built 
up that extends throughout the entire United States and 
many foreign countries. Being of a temperament that never 
gives up, and with a determination to stick to the business 
through thick and thin, I have never weakened one iota 
from my determination to make it a success and a per- 
manent business in which there is practically no limit. 

Early I decided to follow the pure-bred business, selling^ 
principally to breeders, and feeding for market those that 
did not come up to a certain standard of excellence that is- 



iNTKODUt'TlOX. 7 

necessary to satisfy customers, and I have never had any 
reason to cliange my lirst decision. Of course in the early 
days it was a hard matter to iind customers, but good care, 
feeding- and advertising and tlie following of the show ring, 
gradually brought us to the attention of farmers and lu'eed- 
ers, and as the years came and went I could see a gradual 
increase of Inisiness and the knowledge regarding it, and 
each year I went out a little stronger in the show ring, did 
a little more business over the circuit and found a larger 
corresi)ondence at home, all of whicli was gratifying and 
encouraging. It was my good fortune also, to believe in 
system in all things, and to this cause I attribute much of 
my success later. 

Careful records were kept of all animals, breeding dates, 
farrowing dates, marking of the litters, disposition of the 
same, showing to whom sold and prices received; correct 
accounts kept regarding expenses and receipts, until a 
thorough system of bookkeeping, breeding records, sales 
records, etc., has been worked out. 

It has always been our custom to answer all correspond- 
ence promptly, keeping a carbon copy of the reply to every 
letter. Before typewriters were used, all letters were writ- 
ten with pen and a letter press was used in taking an im- 
pression in the copy book. It is no trouble for us today 
to turn to any year's business, or to find out if the ques- 
tion is asked, what animal we sold a certain man years ago. 

Nothing lias ever been done on this farm in the matter 
of breeding but what is on record, therefore we do not 
depend on our memory for anything connected with the 
business. 

What I have learned during these many years is written 
out in this book, hoping that many a young man, new in 
the business, or perhaps older and also of experience, may 
find some subject that will interest him, and from which 
lie can learn something that will be of use. It is for the 
benefit of my fellow breeders, feeders and farmers that I 
have attempted to write this book, and it was with great 
diifidence that I undertook it, even after urgent solicitation, 
and I only trust it may meet with the approval of those 
striving to make a success of the swine business. 

In advising a beginner in this business, I can only say 



8 Forty Yeaks" Expeuiexce ov a Practical Hog Max. 

— select the breed that you think you would like best no 
matter what color. After you fully decide on the one you 
will commence with, stick to it, and do not let anything 
cause you to waiver. You cannot make a success Ijy using 




Residence of Wyman N. Lovejoy on Lovejoy Farm. 

first one breed and then another. Stick to the one you have 
selected and by every means possible get information re- 
garding it, its origin, general characteristics, etc. Be hon- 
est and remember that it takes time to build up a business, 
and after it is once established one must be as careful to 
maintain it as he was in building it. 



CHAPTER ONE. 

THE IDEAL HOG FARM. 

This is a hard subject to write on. The writer has never 
yet seen a hog" farm that was ideal in every respect. While 
many of them are almost ideal usually they lack soime one 
or two requirements. My idea for an ideal hog farm would 
first be one that would have a rich soil, full of fertility to 
grow grasses and other forage, as well as the grains need- 
ed for the best feeds for the proper development of the 
animals. After a good rich soil the next thing would be 
a slightly rolling well drained farm. If it was underlaid 
three or four feet down with gravel, as much of our 
soil in northern Illinois is, it would not require tiling to 
carry off surplus water. I have often noticed that a farm 
that lies quite level and of a rich black soil gets 
veiy muddy after rains and during the coming out of the 
frost in the spring of the year. This kind of soil is not 
best for ideal hog raising. Besides being extremely 
muddy at times, this class of soil does not come as near 
being ideal as does a dark sandy loam well drained with 
under ground drainage sub-soil. This class of soil is also 
better even during dry weather for the feet of the pigs. 
They are rather more inclined to keep in shape and wear 
down a little all the time instead of growing long and turn- 
ing up at the toes as do many pigs kept on a soft mucky 
black soil. 

If one wishes a central hog house for general use, 
rather than a feed house and half acre lots in which 
individual houses are placed, he should place his central 
house where pastures could be easily reached from either 
side, and the kind of a house he should use is one 
of the modern swine houses such as described on page 
17, and should be situated so that a good pasture of 
well set grass or mixture of grasses could be reached from 



10 FoHTY Years' Expehjiexce of a Pkactical Hog Max. 

either side. Pastures before being occupied in this man- 
ner should be well set in grass at least a year before being 
used as hog pasture. 

A small pen the same width as tliose on the inside 
of the hog house should extend outward from the 
pen sixteen or more feet, just for convenience, and gates 
opening from these to the regular pasture, which 
may be acre lots, half acre lots or much larger accord- 
ing to whether the breeder cares to keep each sow and 
litter separate after they go on grass. If half acre lots are 
used eacli should have a sleeping house at the rear 
end, and artificial shade if there is not natural shade in 




Pigs in rape, an important forage crop. 

(Courtesy of Animal Husbandry Department, 
Iowa State College of Agriculture.) 

each lot, for the comfort of the sow and litter during the 
hot weather. They should come to the general house for 
feeding. 

A mixture of clover, alfalfa, orchard grass and other 
grasses makes the most ideal pasture. The lots should 
be situated on either side of the general hog house. 
Arrangements for watering should be made so that all 
could drinl< from the central house. Small fields of for- 
age should be grown where a large number of sows or 
young hogs could be placed after weaning time, or those 
that had already weaned their litters, or animals being, 
titted for market that would not necessarily be obliged to 



Thk Iheal Hoc; Fah.m. 11 

remain in the central house and lot, but could run in the 
larger lots and larger numbers together. I am quoting 
the value of forage crops for Swine from Bulletins Xos. 136 
and 143, from the Iowa Agricultural Station. 

"Probably there is no kind of pasture that becomes green 
and suitable for hogs as early in the season as a field of 
winter rye, sown early in the fall previous. This rye often 
furnishes good grazing through the late fall and early 
winter, or until it becomes covered with snow, then it is 
the first thing that will furnish a green bite in the spring, 
coming on much earlier than either alfalfa or clover. 

Following the early rye comes alfalfa, which furnishes 




A rye pasture affords excellent feed for hogs. 

green pasture a little earlier than any of the clovers. By 
May 1st in the northern latitude red clover will furnish 
a splendid pasture until such time as it begins to 
dry and burn by the hot weather. By this time a field of 
rape should be ready which is probably as good pasture 
for making growth and gains as any other one kind of 
green forage. This should be sotwn in May and the pigs^ 
should be kept off of it until it becomes a few inches high,, 
after which it will stand extremely heavy pasturing. 

iWhere one wishes to *'hog down" corn in the fall hy 
turning in a large number to fatten for market, there is- 



12 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

nothing that will combine with this as well as Dwarf Essex 
rape drilled in between the rows just after the last cul- 
tivation of the corn. By the time the corn is ready to turn 
the hogs on you have an ideal ration in the same field; or 
rye sown with the rape also makes a good combination." 

No greater opportunity exists for cheapening pork 
production than through the general adoption of a forage 
crop system for spring pigs. 

Where alfalfa pasture is used in this climate it should 
not be pastured earlier than May 1st nor later than Novem- 
ber, as it must have enough growth after pasturing to make 
a cover crop for the winter. Where rape pasture is used 
it will be found good at any time during the growing sea- 
son and furnish abundant pasture after the clovers are 
•dry and dead; in fact will furnish good pasture until 
freezing weather comes. It can be used either for pastur- 
ing or for "soiling," that is cutting and carrying to the 
lot where the pigs are kept if they are not turned into 
the field. 

Young hogs can be pushed very fast by having this good 
rape pasture and ear corn, plus one-tenth of the corn in 
meat meal or best quality tankage. This meat meal or 
tankage is a great help in furnishing the necessary protein 
and has a tendency to stop the inclination for rooting that 
many pigs have when on clover or alfalfa. 

When hogs and pigs are in winter quarters with no suc- 
culent feed such as pasture, the other feeds may be supple- 
mented by using a good quality of third cutting alfalfa 
which is greener and better than that of former cuttings. 
This may be fed whole in racks made for the purpose to 
save waste, or it may be run through a cutting machine and 
chaffed, and then mixed 2 parts chaffed alfalfa, one part 
shelled corn and one part oats, thoroughly mixed and ground 
through a steel burr grinder, which is better than any 
other for this kind of a mixture. If desired a little mid- 
dlings may be added and a little tankage to make a balanced 
ration and a complete one. This may be fed dry in 
troughs where there would be no waste, or can be steamed 
a little and thoroughly mixed so that all particles of the 
ground feed and alfalfa are well mixed. This makes an 
ideal feed in the winter for brood sows or Q-rowins: sows. 



The Ideax Hog Farm. 13 

A little of it for fall pigs is good but they should also 
have a feed once or twice a day of a warm slop con- 
taining skimmed miik if possible, or enough tankage to 
balance the other materials. 

Further along the line of the Ideal Hog Farm, I wish 
to say that this farm should be located as near as possible 
to a good shipping point or on an Interurban line leading 
to some city where one or more railroads enter, the more 
the better. It should also be located on a good hard road 
rather than on muddy lanes or steep hills, so that pigs 
could be delivered at any time during the year rain or 
sliine. It should also have some portion of the farm cover- 
ed with a nice growth of trees where dry sows and 
young hogs could be carried along on good pasture 
between breeding seasons. This pasture for best results 
should have springs or running water of some kind, 
but springs would be preferable rather than a stream run- 
ning through the farm. The farm should be large enough 
to furnish all the grain and feed that would be used in the 
business, as well as straw to make first-class bed- 
ding, and fields should all be rather small, say from 10 
to 20 acres each and all fences both outside and division 
fences should be made of woven wire with steel or cement 
posts, so that when once built there would be no need of 
repairing for a generation. Suitable gates made of gal- 
vanized piping with woven wire should open into every 
field and pasture. These gates should not be less than 
14 feet wide, so that teams could be driven in and out when 
necessary. Suitable barns, nicely painted and kept in good 
repair, should be of sufficient number to contain all the 
products of the farm, both grain, hay and straw. A small 
building used as a shop should by all means be on every 
well regulated breeding farm, where crates, hurdles and 
anything along these lines could be made as needed. This 
shop should be furnished with a complete set of tools, in- 
cluding carpenters tools, pump, tongs, various kinds of 
wrenches, etc., and all such tools as are constantly needed 
on a farm. 

If the owner has any knowledge of blacksmithing a port- 
able forge, a drilling outfit, etc., should also be in the shop. 
Also a good heating stove so that work could be done here 



14 FouTY Ye.vhs" Experiexce of a Practical Hog Man. 

in cold or stormy weather. If the business was large 
enough to justify, a nice small office should be on every 
breeding farm, so that all comers would have a place where 
they could go and ''talk hog" to their heart's content with- 
out being obliged to do this in the dwelling. All buildings 
should be built of good material, nicely painted and always 
kept in good condition. The various hog houses, as well 
as the smaller individual ones should all be nicely made 
of lumber and well painted and each should be numbered. 
A plat of the farm proper should also be made by a sur- 
veyor and each field numbered, so that a regular record 
can be kept of what each field produced and what its crop 
rotation should be each year. All convenient utensils 
should be kept on every swine breeding farm such as mix- 
ing vat, steam boiler or water heater, good well made gal- 
vanized pails and dippers, a set of scales in the feed house 
or some other convenient barn where pigs and feed for 
them can be weighed, so that one could keep his feed 
account and know how much feed he . was giving 
each different lot of pigs or hogs. Water should be in 
every feed house, either j)umped directly with windmill or 
engine or from a compressed air water system. A low 
down wagon should be had, with the bottom not over 12 or 
14 inches above the ground large enough to hold three to 
five barrels, or in lieu of this a galvanized tank made to 
set on the wagon, with about 4 compartments holding a 
barrel or more each, with covers strongly hinged with iron 
hinges to cover openings, so there would be no slopping 
from the tank when hauled from yard to yard or from field 
to field. Feed house should be so arranged that this wagon 
could be driven into it, where feed and water could be mixed 
and where the steam could be turned into the feed in cold 
weather if desired. 

If a central hog house is used a system of ventilation 
should be arranged so that the walls would not be covered 
with dampness or ice during cold weather. 

A chute for loading pigs into wagon or into crates set 
on a platform wagon should be made and set on a pair of 
wheels, so that it would almost balance and could be 
wheeled from one place to another, a picture of which is 
on next page. 



The Ideal Hog Fakm. 



In 




16 



FouTY Years' Experiexce of a Pkactical Hog Max. 



This will be found much more convenient than to lift 
the crate from the ground whenever you wish to load a 
hog. A small pen in the swine house or other place 
where water is convenient should be made with a cement 
floor and outlet to sewer, where pigs could be spray- 
ed or washed and cleaned ready for shipment. Pigs should 
always, especially during the warmer months, be nice and 
clean before being crated for shipment. In fact every- 
thing about the farm of the breeder should be attractive 
in appearance and general arrangement. 





The Lovcjoy A-shaped hog house. 



Pigs of about the same age and size should always be 
yarded or pastured together, as they show to much better 
advantage; in other words the herd should be divided 
up in as even bunches as possible, all yearlings to- 
gether, under year sows or boars in separate yards each, 
early spring pigs and late ones in separate yards, and so 
on all along the line. It makes a better ijmpression on a 
visitor than to see all ages and sizes running together. 



CHAPTER TWO. 



A VERY COMPLETE SWINE HOUSE. 

Where one is raising hogs on a large scale and does not 
have to skimp for money to build proper buildings, the 
building known as the Myers plan is probably the most 
convenient Swine house, with pasture and house attached, 
that could be built. The Swine House proper is built in 
a circle 87 feet in diameter with twenty pens around the 
outer circle, each pen being 13 ft. front by 12 ft. in 
depth and each opening to a one-half acre pasture, as 
shown in ground plan of building and pastures, with the 
sleeping house at the rear end of each lot, with additional 
larger pastures opening out from each of these half acre 
ones. You will notice also by the ground plan that each 
half acre lot has artificial shade along the fence between 
each two lots, thus accommodating the pigs in each yard. 

The House proper which stands in the center of the 
circle is 30' in diameter with feed bins around the circle. 
This part should be made with all concrete floor. You 
will notice an alley out each side of this feed house. In- 
side is located a hydrant or pump with a drain which 
runs to a sewer. A steel overhead track with carrier 
should be used in this building to carry the feed out to 
the cement walk around the front of the feeding pens, thus; 
making an extremely convenient way of feeding, requir- 
ing no heavy lifting to feed in a trough as shown in the- 
side view. These troughs should be made of cast iron or- 
boiler iron. I would suggest in making these houses that; 
a good article of prepared roofing other than galvanized 
iron be used. Galvanized iron draws too much heat and 
another thing it would have to be painted ever}^ year or 
would soon rust out. A wagon scale should be located 
in the circle outside of the feed house, this circle 



18 



FoijTY Yeai;h' Exi'E1!ie.\( k ok a PKAtTicAL Hoci Max. 




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A Very Complete Swixe House. 



19 



being 24' 5" in width between the concrete walk and the 
feed house all the way around and should be filled with 
cinders or gravel. This style of a house would be a de- 
lightful place to work in and care for the herd, as one 
would never have to be out in the weather during summer 




Feed House i,,i Feti\„^ P^„s r<,>- S>r.nc (Grcu.J PU^) 

or winter and all feeding would be done on concrete floor 
and the pigs could go out and in from the feeding floor to the 
pastures or sleeping quarters at will. I would strongly rec- 
ommend this house where a breeder has a large enough herd 
and business to justify. It would require about 40 acres of 
land for the entire plant which should be well set in clover, 
alfalfa and other grasses before being occupied. To make 
an extremely nice job these yards could all be fenced with 



20 



Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



what is known as the galvanized hollow iron post about 2" 
in diameter which should be made 5' in length and driven 
into the ground and the woven wire fence attached with 
proper brace, etc., etc. These posts usually come in 7' 
lengths and cost around 30c each, but could be made 2' 
shorter and driven into the ground 2' which would leave 



3,S Ac«=3 



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3.S' Acres 



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3.5 A< 



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them only 3' above ground which with a 33" woven wire 
fence would make an extremely handsome job. They will 
last almost as long as cement posts; have little slots cut 
in them to hold each wire, which can be closed with a 
hammer after the wire is entered. 



A Vkky Complete Swine House. 



21 




CHAPTER THREE. 

GREAT IMPORTANCE OF GOOD PASTURE. 

In forty years' experience as a breeder of swine, I have 
come to the conclusion that many breeders and growers of 
swine, whether for pure bred trade or the market, fail to 
realize the importance of good pasture at all times, and the 
use of succulent feeds at such times and in such parts of 
the country where snow or cold weather prevents pasture 
during a portion of the year. 

Probably there is nothing more desirable as a pasture 
for pigs than some one of the clovers. Of course different 
States and different parts of the country grow different 
kinds of grasses, and the hog raiser should select such 
clovers or grasses as may be adapted to his locality. I 
would name the common red clover first. While no better 
than alfalfa, it will stand tramping and close cropping bet- 
ter. Of course the clovers in the colder States are not 
ready for the pigs quite as early as are some other kinds 
of green feed. Where this is the case, nothing is better 
than an early sowed field of winter rye that had a fair 
start the fall previous and also has been used as pas- 
ture when not covered with snow. This grain is the earl- 
iest to form a good green bite in the early spring, and will 
give an abundance of good pasture until such time as the 
clovers or alfalfa are of proper growth. 

I believe it is generally acknowledged that while alfalfa 
is a splendid pasture, it will not stand close grazing, and 
it will die out sooner than other grasses; for this reason 
we have always kept our hogs off the alfalfa fields, and 
especially should this be done during the winter. 

If there is any prospect in the spring of the pasture lot 
becoming short or danger of its becoming injured by dry 
weather it is desirable to prepare for this emergency by 



Great I.mpoi!Tance of Good Pasture. 



23 



sowing a field to dwarf essex rape wliicli is the best sul)- 
stitute for clover or alfalfa that I know of. In fact everj' 
hog raiser should sow a field of rape as it is one of the 
best of all hog feeds. This should be sown as early in the 
spring as possible after the ground becomes warm, and 
should not be used as a pasture until it is six inches 
or more in height. After it once has a good start the pigs 
will never be able to keep it down, and this feed is good 
as a pasture feed even until freezing weather comes in the 
fall, and during the months of July and August when all 
other kinds of green food are withering and dried out this 
will furnish a very satisfactory green feed. 




A scene on Lovejoy Farm. 

We have fed more or less rape for years and have never 
had anything but good results. Occasionally I have read 
of some trouble with the pigs becoming scabby or sore 
about the ears and parts of the body that come in contact 
with the rape; especially when there was a dew or slight 
rain making the leaves wet. I understand, however, this 
trouble occurs only with the white breed of hogs ; their skin 
seems a little more sensitive and inclined to blister in the 
sun, especially if wet. 



24 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Max. 

An acre or two of rape, if a good stand and on good soil, 
will produce a surprising amount of first class pasture. 

If it is desirable to sow a spring grain to be used before 
rape could become the proper size for grazing, a mixture 
of barley and oats and even field peas makes a desirable 
mixture to sow. 

I believe a hog prefers green barley sown early in the 
spring to any of the other varieties of spring sown grain. 
Why this is I cannot explain, but if a patch of oats and an- 
other of barley are sown early in the spring, side by side, 
and pigs turned into the two lots when grain is a few inches 
high, they will eat the barley all off and give little atten- 
tion to the oats, probably for the reason that the barley is 
more palatable. 

SHADE NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL. 

The question of shade in the pastures or lots where pigs 
are kept during the summer, is of great importance. The 
pig being an animal that does not perspire of course can 
not stand excessive heat and must have shade or suffer 
the consequences. 

fVVhere the hog pastures can be arranged in a wooded 
lot, that is all that can be desired. Where such is not the 
case artificial shade of some kind must be furnished. In 
lots on open sunny land where there are no trees, very 
satisfactory arrangement for shade can be had by setting 
posts along the division fence every sixteen feet with corre- 
sponding posts eight feet each side of the fence, about four 
or five feet high along the fence with the outer ones about 
two and a half feet high, thus forming a covered place six- 
teen feet square with the roof slightly sloping to the East 
and to the West, or even each of the four ways. The 
cover should be of good lumber and the ends of the boards 
projecting well over to prevent the sun shining under. 
This place should have no floor and the ground after being 
used will naturally become rooted up and often gets very 
dusty; this condition can be overcome by one or two 
liberal sprayings of crude oil, and in extremely hot weather 
if the pigs suffer with heat, water can be thrown on the 
ground under the shades each day. 



Great Importance of Good Pastlre. 25 

Where many hogs are pastured in a large lot of several 
acres or more, and there is no natural shade, a long shed 
can be built with the sides left open for about two feet 
above the ground. This should also be kept free from dust 
in the above manner and well ventilated, and as dark as pos- 
sible during the hot dry weather when flies are trouble- 
some. But no shade equals that of a good tree with spread- 
ing brandies in a woods pasture well set in white clover 
and blue grass. However, I do not recommend the use of 
a thickly set under brush or where the trees are so close 
together that the sun cannot penetrate to all parts some 
time during the day. Avoid such a place, as the direct rays 
of the sun are necessary for complete sanitation. 



CHAPTER FOUR. 

NECESSITY OF PLENTY OF PURE WATER. 

The question of water for swine at all times, is one that 
I am afraid is not looked upon with as much importance 
as it should be. For instance, many feeders — men who are 
really good feeders too — seem to think that when feeding 
pigs or older animals on a mixture of wet feeds, containing 
more or less water, the animal is getting all the water it 
requires in eating a half pail or more of nicely mixed wet 
feed. To prove that this is not the case generally, let the 
feeder pour a little pure water into a separate trough and 
nine times out of ten the pig will take a drink of it while 
he is eating his wet feed. Of course it is sometimes rather 
discouraging to water a large number of hogs in separate 
troughs, and an hour or so after they have been fed a wet 
feed notice that in several of the lots or yards some of the 
pigs do not seem to drink any of it, but just remember 
some of them will drink heartily. For this reason it is far 
better, where possible, that a drinking fountain should be 
used where the pigs or hogs can go at will ; this, of course, 
where there is no natural spring or water flowing through 
the yards or pasture lots. 

I know personally that I drink and enjoy lots of good 
cold water and while it is claimed by some that the drinking 
of water during the meal is injurious, I have always drank 
all the cold water — and it is never too cold — with my meal 
that I wanted. I am now much over three score years and 
still drink water and have never felt any ill results, and 
weigh over 250 pounds. I have a very attractive sten- 
ographer who is helping me on this book — and a great help 
too — who never drinks any water to speak of. She weighs 
one hundred and six pounds, although not three score and 
ten, but I wish you to note the difference in weight, and 
that water is a valuable thing for producing flesh as well as 
satisfying the appetite. 



Necessity of Plexty ov Pure Water. 2T 

There are many ways of furnishing water to the herd. If 
many are allowed to pasture together or are yarded in the 
same winter quarters, it is an easy matter by having self- 
watering fountains, as it would be necessary for only one 
such fountain to be used in a covered shed or place where 
forty to fifty animals were daily allowed to congregate. 
Where animals are kept, as has been our custom, in yards 
with only a few in each, it is quite a serious matter, as each 
lot must either have a drinking fountain, or the animals 
i;nust be regularly watered each day, and during the cold 
winter months no water must be left over night in the 
trough to freeze. We have a self -watering fountain which 
is connected with a forty-barrel supply tank so ar- 
ranged that a lamp can be safely set under the drinking 
cup and fountain, always keeping the water warm. This is 
a very desirable fountain but could not be used where 
there were forty or more lots with a few pigs in 
each, unless there was a regular system of water pipes 
running along through these lots and the cost would be so 
great that it could hardly be alTorded ; hence, outside of our 
one or two adjoining large lots, we are obliged during the 
extremely cold months to water each individual lot with 
water that has been warmed. In southern states it is prob- 
ably not necessary to use water that has had the chill taken 
otf — which is a much more desirable condition. 

There are other watering fountains on the market, for 
use during the extremely cold weather, arranged with a 
fire box for heating the reservoir above, with openings 
along the drinking tank on either side; when perfected, 
they will be a very desirable fountain to use, but as yet I 
do not feel that they are really practical, and am waiting for 
greater improvements. In the case of breeders who use a 
central hog house, a pipe running along the troughs on 
either side of the alley and back to the water heater i& 
very convenient to keep the chill off the drinking water, but 
these are not common. It is a small matter in what ivay 
water is furnished daily to every hog and pig on the farm, 
but it is of tnucli importance that it be furnished in some 
way. 



28 



Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 




A sanitary and convenient watering device. 



CHAPTER FIVE. 

IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD SIRE. 

It is an old maxim that ""a good sire is half the herd." 
If a poor sire, he is all the herd , and that means failure. 
Whether this is true or not, it is of great importance that 
the sire at the head of the herd should be a good one, not 
only individually, but what is more, he should be bred along 
blood lines that have proven prepotent and have made good 
even though used on promiscuously bred sows ; a strongly 
line-bred l3oar with an ancestry that is unquestioned in the 
ability to breed on. 

Often one may breed an animal that has great individual 
quality, but without good ancestry, and such an animal 
should not be used as a sire. A prepotent sire never 
comes by chance. He must trace to good ancestry to 
be of much value to the breeding herd. There is no breed 
of swine without a few outstanding sires that have had 
great influence on the breed. This great value comes 
from inherited excellence through generations of good 
blood, and is the only reliable method of selecting the 
desirable sires in any breed. 

In making a selection of a sire for a pure-bred herd, look 
first to individuality, then to the breeding back through 
several generations; see that his ancestors are right and 
what they have done for the breed. If you find all this to 
be of a high order and the boar suits you, is a high-class 
individual, showing true characteristics of his breed, rug- 
ged, full of vigor, masculine in appearance, and with all 
the size possible, not sacrificing quality; conformation as 
near the standard of excellence of his breed as possible, 
buy him. 

Among the few great sires that have stamijed them- 
selves on the offspring of any breed, one c;\n find their 



30 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

characteristics cropping out even to many generations, and 
if you will go into almost any prominent herd, of the differ- 
ent breeds, you will at once notice a few outstanding pigs 
that show in man}^ ways unusual excellence, and' if you take 
the trouble to look up their breeding you will invariably 
find that they were either sired by some great sire or by 
a son or a grandson of his, or from a sow by some great 
outstanding sire ; plainly showing the ability of such a sire 
to reproduce the excellent qualities so much in demand. 

On a recent visit to our farm by an expert in pedigrees, 
it was found after we had selected some iifteen head of 
pigs, as being the tops of the litters, that every one of 
them traced to sires of great ancestry. 

Once in checking up our card system we found a certain 
sow had produced a litter of only six pigs, two boars 
and four sows. The choicest boar was given to the party 
who had offered us an excellent sow if we would breed her 
to a certain boar and select him the best boar pig ; we were 
to have the sow and balance of the litter for the service of 
the boar. The litter above was the result. We sold the 
four sows to prominent breeders for $1,250. All of the 
sows proved great producers. One had a litter of seven 
pigs one of which was used at the head of the herd for 
years. Three of this litter were made barrows for show 
at the International Exposition, where one of them was the 
Grand' Champion over all breeds, and the others were win- 
ners in class. All this goes to prove the value of a great 
sire, which in this case gave a good record and brought 
us a great sow for the herd, and $1,250, for the service of 
the boar. 

There are many such instances on record, which emphas- 
ize the value of the right kind of a pedigree as well as 
^'some hog" which is certainly very necessary. 

It is also of great importance that the same critical judg- 
ment be used in the selection of the brood sows on which 
the herd is founded that the future may be an assured 
success. 

Every breeder should be constantly on the lookout for a 
sire which he has reason to believe would help to improve 
Ms herd. It is not likely that any man is so well fixed 
in regard to sires that he need not think of better 



Importance ok a Good Sire. 31 

ones. Wise breeders are always open-eyed and open- 
minded in reference to new sires for their herds. They keep 
posted as to the performances of both boars and sows rep- 
resenting popular blood lines. Moreover, they correspond 
with or visit many of the less prominent breeders for the 
purpose of finding out how things are going. Such men 
make most of the so-called "lucky strikes.'' When they 
have the evidence that given blood lines are producing ex- 
traordinarily good things they are enterprising enough to 
secure boars or sows representing those blood lines. Some- 
times they have to pay long prices; just as often they 
secure bargains. 

A breeder who, would steadily advance must pay studious 
attention to the operations of his fellow-breeders, and thus 
keep that breadth of mind which is essential to genuine 
progress. He must war against narrowness, and be big 
enough to see real merit wherever it exists. 

In speaking of the mfluence of the sire. Prof. C. S. 
Plumb, University of Ohio, says : 

' ' There is a great deal to learn regarding the reproduction 
of characteristics among animals. However, one thing is 
pretty well established, and that is, that what we know as 
well bred animals transmit their qualities with more cer- 
tainty than do those of inferior breeding. It is unfortunate 
that the results of the most successful experience in breed- 
ing, are not studied more carefully, and made greater use 
of by the rank and file of breeders. 

The average man, a breeder so-called, is not in fact a 
student of breeding at all. Far too many men are inter- 
ested in simply getting their females in pig, without regard 
to the fitness of the sire. That methodless way has ac- 
tually been the undoing of many an American herd. 
This illustration has been made use of by one auth- 
or. I^et two men start to breeding at the same time. One 
selects a sire with great care and mates him to a lot of 
females, with the view of remedying their defects in the 
offspring, and of systematically producing a type. The 
other buys a sire with no special plan in mind. He merely 
wishes a male and has no ideals to work toward. What is 



32 FoHTY Years' Experience oi- a Practical Hog Max 

tlie result? After a term of years one man has a herd that 
approaches uniformity and that gives results in a measure 
approaching his ideals. The other has bred a nondescript 
herd, and produced nothing of serious value. The stock 
produced by one is in constant demand. The other wonders 
why he cannot find buyers. 

We have some breeders in America of a constructive sort, 
men who have done much for the breed. These men have 
had ideals, and have sought to mate with the view of mak- 
ing something better than they found. 

The number of men who desire to purchase $12.00 to 
$15.00 boars is far in excess of what some might think. 
They want something pretty good at that. What they 
really need is a scorching education, by which they are 
made to comprehend the meaning of the breeding busi- 
ness and what it leads to. It is most unfortunate that so 
many men measure their needs by a definite price rather 
than a specific sort of animal. 

Here is a man who has a lot of sows that are inferior in 
ham-development. They may be very good otherwise. 
With him, it should not be cost as a first consideration. 
Rather it should be the securing of a sire to improve their 
weakness. No man today holds the trade of the par- 
ticular buyer, who does not recognize this fact, and governs 
himself accordingly. 

Thus it becomes apparent, and successful breeders read- 
ily agree to it, that the man who expects to succeed, must 
mate his hogs to secure the most desirable form, through 
the use of the right sort of sires. 

In my conversation with the best breeders of my ac- 
(luaintance, they have very generally agreed that the most 
profitable animals they have owned were the highest priced 
ones. Remember I have specified best breeders, not promot- 
ers and speculators. A good many men have paid very high 
prices, and as we say, ''been stung," but this has no ap- 
plication in this discussion. 

In the purchase of breeding stock, and especially the 
herd headers, it is a big mistake for one to buy animals 
without previous inspection. If one will sit down and 
figure out how far reaching the influence of a boar may be 
felt in the generations, he may conclude that it will pay 



Importance of a Good Sire. 33 

to look into the subject pretty carefully before buying. 
Think what Longfellow meant in the Gentry herd! In 
more recent years what a wonderful benefit has come to 
the breed through the use of Masterpiece, one of the real 
high priced boars, in the herd of both Love joy and Corsa. 
Longfellow and Masterpiece are names to conjure with 
today, and they were the products of men who measured 
the real value of both pedigree and individual merit. 

The young man, starting out in the development of a 
herd, will do well to secure high class animals, bred well. 
Better try one good female, a real topper, of both individual 
merit and with a popular pedigree, than half a dozen com- 
mon ones. She will pay much the best in the end. That 
fact has been demonstrated time and again. And the cheap 
sire is to be avoided. Young men should be ambitious, and 
get sires that bid fair promise to reproduce offspring of 
the sort in demand. If one aspires to sell breeding stock, a 
cheap pedigree will be the heaviest handicajD imaginable. 
The average man inquires about pedigree, and if he knows 
what it stands for, he will not want the animal represented 
by a poor pedigree, excepting at little above pork price. 
The intelligent discriminating buyer, will not want the 
stock, however, at any price. If one is not seeking the 
trade of the select sort, then he might as well step down 
and out, as a producer of pure-bred stock. 

One should pattern after the successes, not the failures. 
If the breeder is to have inspiration, it must come to him 
through a knowledge of the results secured by the men 
who know how, and who have succeeded." 



CHAPTER SIX. 

THE SELECTION OF A HERD BOAR. 

It is very necessary that the herd boar should be a good 
one, for the reason that, during his life, he may be the sire 
of hundreds of pigs, whereas a sow will only produce a 
limited number during her life time, and if the boar is good 
enough to improve the standard of the herd, his value as 
a breeder will be great beyond compare. 

It is such sires that have made the breeds what they are, 
and it is such sires that command almost unlimited prices. 

Generally speaking, the sire should be a little more on 
the compact order than the sow. By this I do not mean 
a chunky, short, thick boar, but one showing full develop- 
ment at every point, and of a strictly masculine type. 
There is nothing so unsatisfactory as to have the head of 
a herd show a feminine appearance. The boar particularly 
should be of the proper type of the breed he represents. 

He should be large, without sacrificing quality; smooth 
and even in every part ; a typical masculine head ; eyes and 
ears wide apart ; the crest short, full, smooth and free from 
any creases; the jowl reasonably full and well laid on 
to the shoulders, which should be smooth and free from 
creases; a full heart girth extending well down; and the 
bottom lines nearly or quite on a level, with as deep a flank 
as possible; rather short or medium length legs with bono 
of good size and quality; pasterns short and straight, and 
the hoofs well set; legs standing square and well under him. 
and straight like those of a Shorthorn, with long, deep ham, 
tail set well up and of good size. 

This type and description would fit any of the lard breeds 
excepting that the head and ear should be characteristic of 
the breed he represents. In Poland-Chinas a medium siz- 
ed ear with the proper setting and roll is desired; in the 
Duroc-Jersey practically the same type of head and ear 



The Selection of a Herd Boar. 35 

only a little more length of snout allowable, but shorter 
preferred. These descriptions should be insisted on in 
making selection, in order that the offspring may show an 
improvement each year. 

Careful attention should be given to the blood lines of the 
sire. He should be what is known as an intensive breeder 
— one able to reproduce himself and improve the get. 

Such a sire is more often than otherwise found in a 
strongly "line-bred" boar, carrying the blood of closely 
related ancestors. If of proper conformation he can be 
relied upon to prove a good sire. 

Personally, I would never think of introducing a herd 
boar into my herd of brood sows, that did not carry much 
of the blood represented by the sows, and yet it is not un- 
common for a breeder to receive letters from prospective 
buyers insisting that a boar be sent that is in no way related 
on either side to the sows to which he is to be bred. 



CHAPTER SEVEN. 

HANDLING OF THE HERD BOAR. 

The disposition and good behavior of the herd boar de- 
pends mneh on how he is handled from pighood to maturity. 

Docility is a great thing in a herd boar and he should be 
so handled that he will never cause any trouble in being 
driven from place to place. Kindness has much to do with 
this. The herdsman or owner should never under any con- 
sideration misuse the boar, but handle him with a light 
buggy whip and have him so trained that he can be driven 
as easily as a horse can be led. This training should com- 
mence when the pig is young, and by rubbing him a little at 
feeding time, he will become extremely gentle and look for 
these attentions, and as he grows up under this kind of treat- 
ment, will become a good natured, quiet, easily handled 
boar, and it will not require two or three men with a hurdle 
to bring him out of his yard to be used. 

He should always be kept in a substantially fenced yard, 
with grass to graze on at will, a dry place to sleep in that 
is warm enough for comfort in winter months, and nice 
shade to lie under during the hot weather. 

TThere one has a large herd and keeps several matured 
herd boars, they can be so handled that they will run to- 
gether like a bunch of barrows. This can be done by cutting 
off the tusks very closely, then on a cool day, turn them ail 
together after thoroughly spraying them with good coal tar 
disinfectant, and stay with them until they have had 
their fight out at least once or twice, and the boss has been 
recognized, after which they will let each other alone. AVe 
did this recently with five aged herd boars, and by having 
their tusks closely cut and smooth, they could not make any 
scratches or cuts in their fight and after several good tus- 
sels they gave it up and afterwards fed together. along the- 
trough in perfect harmony. 



Handling of the Hekd Boak. 37 

During the breeding season the herd boar should be well 
fed and receive plenty of exercise. If the lot where the boar 
or boars are kept, is where they can see the sows, even 
though at some little distance, it will, generally speaking, 
cause them to take plenty of exercise walking up and down 
the lot along the fence, especially during the breeding sea- 
son. 

If they do not take this exercise it will be necessary to 
exercise them by driving, for they must be kept in prime 
vigor and perfect condition. It is never wise to use a boar 
just after being fed: better use him early in the morning 
before being fed. and after a short walk, so as to allow him 
an opportunity to empty out both bowel and bladder. Dur- 
ing the heavy breeding season he can again be used toward 
evening after a little exercise and before feeding for the 
night. 

Where one has only a few sows to breed, I believe it the 
best plan to keep the boar in a separate lot from the sows 
and use as just noted. However, on some farms where a 
large number of sows are to be bred, a matured boar can 
be turned in the same lot with ten to fifteen sows and the 
feeder should carefully note sows in season and mark down 
the date the same as he would if the sow was taken to the 
boar. In this way it is possible to keep a close record of 
breeding dates and every sow will doubtless be gotten 
safely with pig without injuring the boar. Care must be 
taken not to turn a young boar in with a large bunch of 
old sows, and if your boar frets under this treatment and 
is getting out of condition it would be wise to put him by 
himself, feed him well and take the sows to him. Judgment 
must l)e used in matters of this kind, as it is the little things 
that are often most important and have much to do with 
the success or failure of swine breeding. 

While the herd boar should not be overloaded with fat, 
he should be in a reasonably strong fleshy condition, the 
result of proper feeding along lines that will not produce 
too much fat or white meat. A muscle-producing-feed 
should be used, such as middlings, oats, peas, barley, a little 
corn and tankage, etc. Use a variety of feeds, with of 
course what grass he will eat, or other succulent feed 
such as should be found on everv farm. 



CHAPTER EIGHT. 

SELECTING BROOD SOWS. 

When the breeder or farmer lays the foundation of a herd 
of brood sows it is very necessary that he first make up 
his mind what breed of swine he wishes to commence with. 
I am not recommending any particular breed. There are 
a number of standard breeds and they are all good, es- 
pecially five or six of them. Looking over those known as 
the lard breeds, one cannot go wrong by selecting any of 
the following named in alphabetical order: 

Berkshires 
Chester 'Whites 
Duroc-Jerseys 
Hampshires 
Poland-Chinas 
There are also quite a number of Cheshires and Victorias 
used in the far eastern states, probably more of them in 
New York than any other State, and they are a very sat- 
isfactory breed. 

Among the breeds known as bacon breeds, are the fol- 
lowing : 

Large Yorkshires 
Tamworths 
Further than these there are several small breeds, used 
locally, such as Essex, Small Yorkshires and Suffolks ; the 
latter three breeds are used little in the western States. 

After deciding on one of the above breeds for a founda- 
tion herd it will be best for one entering the business to 
post himself as well as possible regarding the character- 
istics of that particular breed, and it is my opinion that 
other things being equal, it is better for a man to produce 
only one breed and that should be the one he thinlvs he 
would like best. He should never attempt to raise a breed 
of hogs he does not like, either pure-breds or for pork 



Selecting Brood Sows. 39 

If he is going to raise hogs to sell on the market or to 
follow cattle, he need not be as particular about blood lines, 
but should be just as particular regarding individual type 
and characteristics. Let him make a careful study of type, 
size and general conformation, and always remember the 
desirability of getting as much size as possible without 
sacrificing quality. 

First let him see a number of the breed he wishes to 
])nreliasc, that he may have no reason afterwards to regret 
his selection. This rule will be necessary no matter what 
breed he selects. No better place can be found to study 
breed characteristics than at county and state fairs, at the 
International, and at public sales of pure-bred swine. 

It is well in making the selection of a foundation herd 
of brood sows to secure only those that show good length 
of body, well-sprung ribs, with deep sides ; a full loin ; long 
deep hams, with as straight legs as possible; not too high 
above ground when in ordinary condition, and with a full 
heart girth giving plenty of room for the vital organs 
such as heart, lungs, etc. The head should be character- 
istic of the breed. The neck short with a reasonably 
full jowl but not heavy and hanging — especially not flabby. 
This should connect with the shoulders smoothly ; the crest 
should be reasonably short without crease or deep wrinkle 
laying both on top and sides smoothly to the shoulders. 
Shoulders should be well filled but not too broad on top to 
give flat appearance, but should be round and smooth with- 
out crease back of them at the heart girth. It is better 
always to select a sow that is strong in the back, somewhat 
arched, so that even when carrying a heavy litter her back 
would show no sign of sagging. From the loin coupling, to 
what is known as the tail head, or where the tail sets, should 
not be too steep or drooping, giving the top line a bad ap- 
pearance, but should on the other hand, be well up or nearly 
on a line with the loin — at least but slightly drooping. 

It is common with some farmers and even with breeders 
who have had years of experience, to select a brood sow 
that is too short and thick throughout; such an animal is 
not apt to be as good a producer as one with more length, 
more depth and mellowness in her general make-up. One 
should look well to the bone, pasterns and feet. It is not 



40 Forty Years' Experiexce of a Practical Hog Man. 

necessary that the bone should be extremely large in dia- 
meter, like that of a Clydesdale or Shire horse, for often 
an extremely large bone in a hog does not have as much 
firmness and strength as a bone that is not so large. The 
pasterns should be as short and upright as possible. This 
is surely one of the important things that we should look 
after in all of our present-day breeds. If the pastern is 
short and the bone of good quality there will never be any 
trouble with broken-down feet. 

When it comes to the foot proper, the toes should be 
short and not too sprawling, or in other words they should 
set rather close together. The legs should be straight 
from a side view of the animal, as well as from an end 
or front view. Often one finds a hog with a front leg 
as crooked as a ''Fist" dog, with the knees close together 
and feet wide apart, giving a very bad appearance to the 
animal. Regarding the hind legs, they should be as straight 
and upright as those of the Shorthorn, rather than being 
what is known as "sickle hocked" and should stand square 
under the body. 

The coat of hair should be ample, yet not curly or coarse, 
and the smoother it lays on the body the better ; all appear- 
ance of what is known as "swirls" should be avoided, es- 
pecially if the animals are intended for breeding purposes, 
and the boar should not be considered if he has a ' ' swirl. ' ' 
For the benefit of the beginner, I will explain that a 
"swirl" is what would be called in the human race, a cow- 
lick. In some hogs these are quite small and hardly notice- 
able, while in others they appear as large as a saucer and 
are generally located near the loin and some times near 
the tail head. 

In selecting a herd of brood sows, it is my judgment 
that the more uniform iu type, size and conformation the 
sows are, the better, and I would even go so far, if I were 
selecting but a few, to have them all from one or two litters 
if possible, rather than take the risk of getting such a great 
variety of types by the selection of individuals from differ- 
ent families, and I would have them from reasonably large 
litters. 

While we all like good-sized litters, I am not a crank 
on this subject. I prefer litters running from seven to nine 



Selecting Brood Sows. 41 

rather than from ten to twelve pigs each, and believe I 
<30uld make more pounds of meat and obtain better growth 
for breeding purposes, than I could from extremely large 
litters. Of course we occasionally find a good sow that 
•can grow a litter of twelve or more, but the pigs are not 
apt to be as thrifty and as growthy as those of a litter of 
eight or nine. It is better to have a litter of medium size 
that are very thrifty, than one larger that cannot get 
enough nourishment to develop as they should. 

"DON'T BE A CRANK ON MARKINGS." 

In selecting brood sows of any breed, it is not so much 
how they are marked as it is whether or not they are good 
sows of the right type, quality and conformation. Of 
course this trouble will not come up about those whose 
color is solid, such as the Chester Whites, etc., but in 
the Berkshires, Poland-Chinas and Hampshires, one 
often meets a man, who i^ more particular about fancy 
markings than he need be. I do not believe that a per- 
fectly marked Berkshire sow, bred to a perfectly marked 
Berkshire boar, would ever produce a litter that was per- 
fectly marked, nor do I believe that a sow or boar with one 
black foot, black switch, or a white splash on the jowl or 
arm would ever produce a litter that was all marked like 
the sire or dam. Of course the nearer the litters come to 
being perfectly marked the more we are pleased, l)ut we 
should look more to conformation, size and quality, than to 
the markings. 

We once paid $225.00 for a son of old Longfellow that 
had a splash that nearly covered his entire left jowl and 
face and I cannot recall that he ever sired a pig with the 
same marking. This rule will apply to the Poland-China 
breed, and to the Hampshires when the white belt varies in 
width and shape as well as some of the feet having white 
part way up the leg. First look for quality and size, then 
let the markings be a secondary consideration. 

See also, in selecting your brood sows, that there is a 
mellowness to the touch, which shows feeding quality. 
Avoid one that is hard and coarse to the touch. 



CHAPTER NINE. 

AGE, TIME AND SEASON FOR BREEDING. 

Personally I am a firm believer that for best results 
animals should not be bred too young. Many breeders and 
farmers make a great mistake in selecting the sows they 
wish to breed, from the spring gilts each year, also select- 
ing from his own herd, or some other, a young boar from a 
spring farrow, rather than carry over his older sows and 
keeping a mature boar. I am positive that it is much better 
to use only mature animals for breeding or those as nearly 
matured as possible. iWe all know that a sow from two 
to five years old bred to a boar of about the same age will 
produce stronger pigs with considerably more size and 
weight at birth, than will a young gilt, and yet many men 
each year purchase young bred gilts. 

I think the average litter also is larger in number from 
mature animals. Furthermore, it has been my observation 
that the farmer who each year selects young gilts and breeds 
to a young boar and follows it up for a number of years, 
gradually reduces by this process the stamina and vitality 
of his herd, causing them to be in a condition to contract 
disease much easier than would older animals. For this 
reason I would advise that, for best results, nothing be bred 
under one year old, which would bring the litter at about 
sixteen months of age, at which time the animals are well 
along toward maturity. After having started a sow to 
breeding and it is found that she is a good producer, a 
good mother, careful of her litter and a good suckler, by 
all means keep that sow as long as she produces satisfac- 
torily, and when you strike the best mating, or one that 
proves highly satisfactory, continue to breed her to the 
same boar, rather than take chances by changing. 



Age, Time axd Seasox for Breeding. 43 

It is not necessary to do as we have done once or 
twice, to keep a sow almost np to the limit of the average 
usefulness of production, or you might get caught as we 
did, by having quite a number of sows, that had been valu- 
able breeders, but by holding too many years, all quit breed- 
ing at once. It is very hard when one has a sow that pro- 
duces very high-class animals to quit using her until he is 
obliged to. 

We bred a sow once in her 13th year and she produced 
one pig; of course she had been a valuable sow or we would 
not have retained her in the herd until that age. When she 
farrowed her litter' of only one pig we concluded it was 
time to stop, so we fattened her and sold her to the local 
butcher. He remarked as he looked her over that she was 
no spring chicken, and some weeks after when I asked him 
how the old sow turned out, he said all right in every way. 

The season in which it is best for sows to be bred, 
depends entirely upon the part of the country in which 
you are located. Breeders and farmers residing in the 
southern states where cold weather is not a factor, may 
breed at any time of the year, and this is a great advantage 
over those of us who live in the northern or eastern states. 
In the cold weather states, it is best not to have pigs far^ 
rowed later in the fall than September, and by no means 
later than the latter part of October, for the reason that 
these pigs will be farrowed too late to get sufficient growth 
to be weaned and fed by themselves before the weather be- 
comes too cold for best results in development, unless one 
is especially fitted with conveniences, such as warm sleeping 
houses, etc., with plenty of warm feed to continue their 
development without check. 

Nothing looks so bad as a little pig in the winter time 
doubled up with cold and its hair pointing to its ears, but 
where the pigs can be properly taken care of and continue 
to grow and look smooth and thrifty, then it is a different 
matter and they are fully as valuable as the pigs farrowed 
in the spring, because thej^ come to the proper breeding 
age the fall following their birth, and there is nothing more 
desirable or that sells better than fall litters that can be 
bred a vear from birth. 



44 Forty Years' Experiexce of a Practical Hog Max. 

With the spring litters the northern and eastern breeder 
mnst also be a little careful. It is all right in this section to 
have a few pigs farrowed in February, but that is not gen- 
erally best. There are men who probably would like to buy 
February pigs, as they have a little more size when the 
fall breeding season commences, than those farrowed later, 
but they require much more attention to bring them to 
weaning time than would the litters farrowed in March 
and April; besides none of the February pigs could be 
shown the following fall in the under six months class. This 
in a measure militates against their being sold to breeders, 
but would be all right where sold to farmers for breeding 
purposes without considering the matter of showing. How- 
ever, this is a matter that is up to each farmer or breeder, 
as he sees it from his own viewpoint. 

USE OF BREEDING CRATE. 

There is considerable ditference of opinion regarding the 
use of breeding crates, but I have long considered them a 
necessity although we do not use them in every instance. 
Where there is much difference in size of the animals the 
crate should be used; on the other hand where the size is 
nearly equal, perhaps just as good or better results can bo 
had without the use of the crate, yet every well regulated 
establishment should have one or more reliable breeding 
crates. Some claim that using a crate is against nature, 
which may be true. However, I believe when the crate is 
to be used, the animals to be bred should be turned together 
for a short time for the purpose of getting acquainted, and 
the teasing is no doubt a great benefit, but the practice of 
forcing a sow into a breeding crate, then bringing the boar 
to her, without any teasing, does not always work out as 
expected and sometimes creates much trouble. When 
everything is all right, a crate is quite satisfactory. Any 
crate used for this purpose should be adjustable both in 
length and width. If sows can be bred without a crate, it is 
better, as a general thing. 



A MouEi!\ Fahhowi.xg House. 



45 




CHAPTER TEN. 

A MODERN FARROWING HOUSE. 

As we have no modern farrowing house at Love joy Farm, 
and as I have carefully inspected the one at Gregory Farm, 
and like it very much, I have pleasure in herewith insert- 
ing an article written by Mr. W.'S. Corsa, and first publish- 
ed in the Breeders Gazette and later in the July 1909 issue 
of The Berkshire World and Cornbelt Stockman. 

Mr. Corsa 's article fully explains the arrangement of 
the house and clearly tells how it is built. 

Doubtless if we were building a new farrowing house at 
Love joy Farm we would take the Gregory Farm farrow- 
ing house largely as a pattern. 

The article follows : 

"A combination of good ideas is much more practical and 
satisfactory than a hobby. The individual farrowing house 
and lot is a good thing. Under certain conditions it is the 
most desirable abode for a sow and her family. Fortun- 
ately in this climate that is the case throughout a great 
part of the year, particularly in stormy weather, but for 
the best results it is almost indispensible in all weather. 

' ' There need be no argument between rival camps of indi- 
vidual farrowing houses vs. permanent farrowing houses. 
They are distinct compliments one to the other. Use the 
individual house whenever you can. At other times use 
the permanent house, and let the mother and her new family 
set up housekeeping in their own individual home at the 
earliest possible date. 

"There are just a few cardinal principles to bear in mind 
in building a permanent farrowing house. These are largely 
summed up in remembering that such a house is to be built 
for the comfort of the hogs rather than the convenience of 
the herdsman. Fortunately, these two considerations are 
not necessarily opposed to each other. 



A Modern Farrowing House. 



47 



''In building a permanent farrowing house, as in build- 
ing anything permanent, consideration should be given to 
location. It would seem to be better to place such a build- 
ing reasonably near the individual lots and away from the 
general group of farm buildings. For many reasons this 
may not always be feasible, but it would seem to be a good 
practice to keep the hogs away from the barns and ad- 
joining buildings. 

"The nightmare of the permanent farrowing house is 
disease, so that the sanitary conditions are always the de- 
ciding ones, as sunshine, the cheapest and best germicide 
in every pen at some hour of the day ; plenty of ventilation 
without draught and no harboring place for filth. 

' ' While the permanent farrowing house at Gregory Farm 
has received unusually favorable comment from visitors we 
do not take any particular credit to ourselves. We are in- 




;*-;«?■ v 



Figure I 



debted to such well-known members of The Gazette familv 
as Mr. AVing, Mr. Bonham, Mr. Lovejoy, Prof. Dietrich and 
others, for valuable suggestions, which were collected and 
m hand a year or more before the house was begun. 

"Our principal office was to sit in judgment as court of 
•last resort on the many suggestions offered, and occasion- 
ally building in a vagrant idea of our own. 

''This house is located with reference to the individual 
hog lots and houses much the same as the Light Brigade to 
the Russian cannon of Balaklava. It stands on ground 
with a decided slope to the south, gi\ing good natural sur- 
face drainage. At the rear an open wood of natural forest 
trees on somewhat higher ground affords material protec- 
tion from the north and northwest storms of winter. 

"Having with some care located the site, we started in 
on the foundation by digging a trench six inches wide and 



4S 



FouTY Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



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A Modern Farrowing House. 



49 



deep enough to go below the frost line. With the concrete 
foundation brought to the proper level, we filled in the hol- 
low parallelogram with gravel and rock, tamped it well and 
covered the entire surface with concrete, making the floor 
rat-proof and water-proof. Iron pins were placed in the 
concrete wherever there were to be posts in the building. 
For siding we used boards that had seen service for two 
years as stack covers. Where it is intended to use concrete 
on exterior, old lumber not only may be used, but has the 
advantage of having the shrink out of it. The finishing 
boards were then put on, and then chicken wire, one-inch 
mesh, was stretched. 

''Let me emphasize some things, although Mr. AVing has 




Airey 



repeatedly said them so much better; hang your strip of 
chicken wire as you would wall paper. Start at the top, 
make that secure, then fasten one edge, after which stretch 
sideways, then fasten to the bottom. Do not use strips of" 
wood or laths to keep the wire out from the sides, but tise- 
screws, about I14 inches, burying the wire in the head of 
the screws, and give a half turn. Wherever the wire might 
touch the wood place a screw. Fence staples will keep the 
wire from leaving the screw heads. Use screws and staples 
generously. 

"The first coat of concrete, made 2 parts sand to 1 
cement, will just cover the wire netting. Before this is en- 
tirely dry apply finishing coat of 1 part sand, 1 cement, and 



50 



Forty Years' Experiexce of a Practical Hog Max. 



float even with the finish boards. Concrete fills in cracks 
between siding boards and effectually stops all draughts 
and sifting in of snow in times of driving storm. Concrete 
was used on the entire exterior except on south front above 
the low roof, which was finished in shingles. The appear- 
ance would have been improved if the shingles had been laid 
irregularly. This low roof is quite flat and is consequently 
covered with prepared roofing. It is important that this 
roof be kept almost flat, so as to bring the upper large win- 
dows as low down as possible to let the sunlight shine 
directly into the back row of pens. Remember to make am- 
ple flashing where this low roof joins the shingle front 
above ; otherwise any southerly storm will be in evidence in 
your farrowing house. One more important feature of this 
low roof : at the lower edge is a box gutter tinned in 6 inches 
wide. At the west end it is 1 inch deep, and at the east end 




4 a re/ Rarf 

Tojo of Raft/ tiOrt 

SfCfGe to Gucrr-cJ Tiaii sup/oor-t 
Cloats on P^sT^ -to hotef T^e^rt-tttorf rrr Ptoce 



4 inches. Down spouts should be boxed in and run into 
tile. All this helps to keep the premises dry. Ordinary 
gutters would be less sightly, less durable and interfere 
with the sunlight at the east end of the lower row of win- 
dows. The main roof is covered with shingles. 

"All posts are set on iron pins bedded in the concrete. 
The corner posts are 6 feet and the 2-inch plate gives ample 
room for a man to walk around without fear of bumping 
his head. The pens are 10 feet 4 inches long by 8 feet wide, 
and have a removable floor of inch boards made in two 
halves each 10 feet by 4 feet. This does away with the chill 
from the concrete and the tendency to rheumatic sows and 
pigs. 

"The pens are separated by removable partitions (Fig. 
4), which slide down between cleats on the posts. The par- 
tition 2 feet 10 inches high, has a 2 by 4 inch guard rail on 



A Modern Farrowing House. 51 

both sides. At customary times we take up wood floors, 
remove the partitions and clean house. 

"Fig 3, (interior view of pen), shows guard rail support- 
ed on partition. This leaves the floor surface entirely unob- 
structed. This is important. We use a wood rail instead 
of gas pipe, because it is not so cold, and finally we use a 
"rail" instead of the customary guard board because the 
rail lets the sun between it and the partition, to the great 
comfort and health of the little pigs. The bottom edge of 
this 2 by 4 inch guard rail is 8 inches above the board floor. 
The bottom of the triangular guard rail support is 9 inches 
long, so that when the 2 by 4 inch guard is nailed on there 
is a protecting space for the little pigs of 11 inches. The 
guard rail at the rear of the pen is attached by its supports 
permanently to the 2 by 6 inch nail girts. At the front of 
the pen the guard rails are brought on a slant from the 
support and attached directly to the partition. This gives 
a little additional room in front for feeding, and does away 
with sharp corners, especially necessary at entrance to pen. 
Doors to the pens are 2 feet wide ; heavy hinges, 6 inch butt 
and 10 inch strap, with bolts and screws, will discourage 
even the occasional uneducated and untamed sow. 

"You will observe the hog trough is conspicuous by its 
absence. Do not use a hog trough in a permanent farrowing 
house. Above all things do not build one in. No amount of 
eare can keep a trough clean inside and outside. We prefer 
to use galvanized pans. Those we have are 27 by 16 inches 
and 5 inches deep, a very good size and depth for the sow 
and her little ones, and when the meal is over the pan is 
taken out of the pen. 

' ' The alley between the pens is 6 feet 6 inches wide. This 
is a convenient and comfortable width. The narrow alley 
is a nuisance, and if built to save either room or money is 
misplaced economy. The floor of the alley is the bare con- 
crete and made a little rough by sprinkling when green, 
so the hogs will not slip. At each end of the alleyway are 
sliding doors the full width of the alleyway and 6 feet 8 
inches high. The upper windows are 5 feet, 8 inches by 2 
feet 5 inches, double sash, each sash with two panes 12 by 30 
inches. Both sash are hung by weights so they may be 
raised or lowered, affording splendid ventilation. 

"These large upper windows should never be omitted. 



52 



Forty Years' Experiexce of a Practical Hog Man. 



They throw the sunlight down into the back row of pens in- 
stead of up against the roof, as would a smaller window. 
The lower windows are double windows, with single sash 
2 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 8 inches, and four panes 12 by 14 
inches. These sash are hung at side about center, so the top 
will swing in and the bottom out. When they are open you 
will notice the fresh air comes in at the top and you have 
ventilation and abundance of fresh air without any direct 
draught on the pigs. 




''At the west end and the outside of the farrowing house 
proper, but connected with it by sliding doors located just 
under the lower west window, is the life-saving- station in 
the winter pig business — the sun room. Here warm sun- 
shine and fresh air makes the youngsters happy enough to 
scrap, and so they doze and get their exercise by turns for 
an hour or more until warm lunch is served by mamma in 
her own apartment. Then a little ''beauty sleep" and out- 
doors they go, racing around their lot like the lusty young- 
sters they are. 

"The little sun room shown in Fig. 5 is invaluable. The 
glass part is very cheap. In the front are four barn sash 
of three lights each 10 by 16 inches; top glass is lapped 
hothouse fashion ; floor dimensions are 12 by 3 feet. We 
get a warm floor by laying up a brick wall a few inches high 
and filling in with sand and laying a board floor on the 
sand. ' ' 



CHAPTER ELEVEN. 



FARROWING TIME. 



It is presumed that all breeders of pure-bred stock keep 
a record of the date sows are due to farrow. If this is not 
the case trouble is sometimes the result. As farrowing time 
approaches no unusually special care need be given to the 
brood sow if she has been fed along lines laid down in this 
book, and if she has had sufficient exercise during the gesta- 
tion period. It is only necessary that she be placed in a 
quiet, warm, dry place in winter and cool in summer, a 
week or two previous to the date of farrow. This should be 
done so that she may become accustomed to the new sur- 
roundings. 

As the time approaches for the coming of the litter, see 
that the sow gets out of her sleeping place daily and takes 
plenty of exercise, otherwise she will become more or less 
constipated. If such is the case, two ounces of Epsom Salts 
should be given her in the slop daily until her bowels are 
in a laxative condition. See that the place where she is to 
farrow is provided with a guard rail around at least three 
sides of the pen, to protect the young litter being overlaid 
by the sow and crushed. 

If everything is going right with the sow at farrowing 
time, let her alone. If one finds that after several hours of 
labor, there are no pigs in sight, it is well enough to investi- 
gate. Often by oiling the hand and entering a few inches, 
one will find either the leg of the pig or its head can be 
reached, when a slight pull results in an immediate de- 
livery. 

If the sow is unduly fleshy and seems closely built, it is a 
very good plan, when she is ready to farrow, to inject a 
little oil — either sweet oil, cotton seed oil, or any that is 
clean and pure — that the passage may be made easy. 



^4 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

During nearly forty years of breeding, we have only had 
to resort to pig forceps once or twice, and then generally 
without good results. 

If the weather is cold when the young pigs are just far- 
rowed, we have made it a practice to have close at hand a 
barrel or box with either a hot brick or two or a stone heated 
and laid in the box and covered thickly and deeply with chaff 
or cut straw, and as fast as the youngsters appear we wipe 
them off with a cloth and place them in this box, where it is 
warm, covering the same with a blanket, and wait for the 
next one's appearance, keeping this up until the entire lit- 
ter is farrowed, if not continuing over too long a period. If 
several hours' time is occupied in farrowing the litter, we 
let those that have appeared nurse once or twice during the 
time, placing them back in the box as soon as they have 
nursed sufficiently, and when the whole litter is farrowed, 
we place them all with the mother, and if everything goes 
right and the mother is quiet, leave them there. If, however, 
she is ugly and inclined to get up and turn around and act 
badly, we place the pigs back in the box to keep them warm, 
and wait a short time until she is again settled. But gener- 
ally, after the sow permits the litter to nurse once without 
undue restlessness, she will be quiet with them. 

You will notice an illustration of a farrowing box, which 
we have used for many years, and consider it one of the 
best appliances in the equipment of a farrowing house, for 
while the sow can easily lie down on either her right or left 
side, she cannot turn around or lie down on the pigs, as 
they are protected by the sides of the farrowing box which 
do not extend clear to the floor, but have a space of some 
nine inches in which the youngsters can run out into the 
outer part of the box at either side or end. We found in 
the last Spring farrowing of over two hundred pigs, that 
only three were injured in the farrowing box. In a large 
herd three or four of these boxes would be one of the best 
investments that could be made. 

After the pigs are two or three days old, they, with the 
sow, can be removed to an individual house or pen, without 
much danger of their being overlaid by the sow, unless she 
is deaf, which is sometimes the case, but such a sow should 
be sold for pork and not kept in the breeding herd. 



Farrowixg Time. 



55 




56 



Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



Occasionally one finds a sow that is very nervous after 
farrowing. She will get up and lie down again frequently, 
and may crush one or more of the newly farrowed pigs. It 
is well to give such a sow a small feed, mostly of bran with a 
little middlings or cornmeal, as this will often quiet her. If 
she is extremely nervous and insists on getting up and 
down, pour one teaspoonful of laudanum into her ear. 




Pig health means hog profit. 

Importance of Keeping Breeding Dates. 

Every breeder and even every farmer and grower of 
hogs for market should keep correct dates when his sows 
were bred and should put down the date to retry them, 
making it from twenty to twenty-two or twenty-three days 
from the date bred, and should not neglect when this 
time comes, to try them again and see if they are settled 
or if they will have to be rebred. This should be carried on 
at least to the third period after first breeding, so that he 
would absolutely know that his sows are safe in pig, and if 
they are to be used to fill orders for bred sows, he should 
still keep tab on them and not ship them out until they show 
their own guarantee that they are safe in pig. It is a very 
distressing thing, both for the purchaser and seller, to find 
after shipment, that the sow shipped had failed to prov«^ 
in pig. Better wait a little longer before shipping and 
know that the animal is absolutely safe in pig. 



CHAPTER TWELVE. . 

CARE OF THE BROOD SOW FROM BREEDING SEASON 
UNTIL WEANING OF PIGS. 

To have brood sows in prime condition at the beginning 
of the breeding season, in the Fall, it is well to have them 
come oft' from good fresh grass or pasture of some kind, 
having for a short time been fed grain and being in a 
slightly gaining condition. This nsually brings them in 
season very shortly, and generally where there are many, all 
will come in season about the same time. This is well, as 
it enables a large number to be bred as near the same time 
as possible, and the litters to arrive about the same time in 
the Spring, thereby giving one a large number of young- 
sters of practically the same age. 

During the time these sows are being bred and carrying 
their litters they should be fed absolutely right for best 
results. First and all the time they should have plenty of 
exercise — the more the better. If they could run about the 
pastures and fields during the daytime, between the feeding 
periods, it would be well, and they should sleep some dis- 
tance from where they are fed. 

The feed should be composed of a variety and should be 
as nearly a balanced ration as possible, containing the 
proper amounts of both fat and bone-making material, and 
never solely an all-corn ration. Of course corn is the 
cheapest feed one can use, in the cornbelt, especially if he 
grows it on his own farm, and if this must be used for the 
sake of economy, it can be to the amount of about three- 
fourths of the ration, with the other fourth composed of 
feeds containing a high percentage of protein. Tankage 
fed in the proportion of one-tenth to nine-tenths corn, 
makes practically a balanced ration. Hogs on alfalfa or 
green feed, need less tankage. For convenience it would 
be bett(M- to i>rind the corn and mix the tankan'e with the 



o8 FoKTY Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Max. 

meal, which can be fed either dry or soaked and fed as a 
slop. 

With this ration a feed of the third cutting of alfalfa 
hay, which is always bright and green, would be an excellent 
addition, giving both bulk and green feed for the sows. 

A mixture of one part shelled corn, one part oats, and 
two parts finely cut alfalfa hay put through a cutting box, 
makes a nicely balanced ration, with the addition of five 
per cent tankage, or where skim milk is plentiful, use it in- 
stead of tankage, in the proportion of three pounds of skim 
milk to one of grain. 

Another good ration is equal parts of rye and barley 
ground fine and mixed with twenty-five per cent white mid- 
dlings or shorts — on account of price of middlings, although 
middlings are very good — adding about five per cent oil 
meal or tankage. This makes almost an ideal ration. 

A small per cent in weight of a good quality bran added 
to any of the above makes a valuable addition. 

One thing must not be overlooked, and that is plenty of 
clean fresh water. If it can be had at will, so much the 
better ; if it cannot, it should at least be given once or twice 
daily, for the hog needs a drink of water as much as any 
other animal or human being. I have known pigs to walk 
directly from a wet feed of nice rich slop to a drinking foun- 
tain and take a good drink of water, as though they had been 
fed on dry feed. I really think that the majority of breeders 
and farmers overlook this matter of letting the hogs have 
plenty of water to drink. 

Further, the brood sows during the season should, if pos- 
sible, have some kind of green feed or pasture. Of course 
in parts of the country where there is heavy snow, some- 
thing must be fed to take the place of pasture. There is 
nothing equal to the third or fourth cutting of alfalfa for 
this purpose. This, if cured without being damaged by 
rains, is practically as green as it would be in June, and is 
greatly relished. It can be fed in racks, properly made, 
and mentioned elsewhere in this book, or it may be run 
through a power cutter and chatfed and fed with a portion 
of the grain ration, as above recommended. A mixture of 
salt, charcoal, wood ashes and ground limestone or slacked 
lime is absolutely necessary, and if convenient add also a 
portion of ground phosphate rock. This mixture adds much 



Care of the Brood Sows. 59 

in the way of mineral matter that is so necessary in building 
up the bone and frame of the unborn litter. 

Brood sows should have a dry warm place to sleep, and 
but few in number — not over ten or twelve— should run 
together or sleep in one compartment. This is to avoid 
their crowding or piling up too closely. 

The future of the pig depends much, in fact more than is 
usually realized, on what the dam receives in feed and care 
before the birth of the litter. '*A litter well born is half 
raised," and there should be no immediate change in the 
feeding formula for the sow having just farrowed a litter 
of pigs, from what she has been having during the 
period of gestation, only after farrowing the sow should 
go at least twenty-four hours without feed, with what 
water she will drink, which in cold weather should 
be given her with the chill taken off ; then, a very light 
portion of the same feed she has been having. If she 
has been fed a dry feed, it would be well to use the same 
proportion in the mixture, only feed it as a slop, with warm 
water during the winter in a cold climate, and cold water 
if in the southern States. 

This feed should be gradually increased as the litter is 
able to take all the milk furnished by the mother. Usually 
at the end of one week, if the litter is an average sized one, 
the sow can be fed all she will eat up clean. 

By the time the pigs are three weeks old they will eat a 
little on the side from the trough with their mother, and 
if it is desired to push them to the limit in growth, a small 
feeding space can be arranged so they may feed from a very 
low, shallow trough by themselves, unmolested by the 
mother, giving them the same feed given the mother. 

During this period of the early life of the litter the sow 
and litter should take plenty of exercise for the necessary 
good of the pigs, for they must exercise considerably dur- 
ing each day, or they will become fat around the heart and 
die with what is known as ''Thumps," which is nothing 
more or less than fatty degeneration of the heart, which 
they will certainly have unless they are exercised daily in 
some way. 

As weaning time approaches, which should not be earlier 
than ten to twelve weeks, in my opinion, the feed may be 
lessened for the sow and more given the litter, so that the 



60 Forty Years' Experience or a Practical Hog Man. 

SOW would gradually give less milk and have no trouble 
when i.he pigs are taken entirely away. 

Some breeders have made it a practice to gradually wean 
the litter by taking them away for a few hours and then 
returning them to the mother and following this up for 
a few days until they are taken away entirely. 

Others have practiced taking one or more of the most 
thrifty pigs in the litter away from the mother first, then 
after a few days a few others, and finally taking those re- 
maining, believing that pigs so weaned would leave the sow 
in better condition and less danger of swelling and soreness 
of the adder. 

fWe never have practiced this, however, during our forty 
years of breeding pigs. By letting the litter suckle until 
it is ten to twelve weeks old or a little over, the sow naturally 
is inclined to wean them herself and if she has been prop- 
erly fed the last part of this period she will practically 
give no milk at the end of three months or thereabouts. 

When the litter is finally weaned the sow should be given 
a good fresh pasture of some kind with a little grain and 
she will need very little else during the next month or two 
or until time to begin to bring her in condition for another 
season's breeding. 

We pastured something like forty brood sows that had 
weaned their pigs in May, by turning them directly into 
a fresh white clover and blue grass pasture where there 
was plenty of shade. They had no grain or slop for four 
months, but were given daily from a water fountain all the 
fresh clean water they could drink. 

They did well on this grass and water diet, but in 1914 
we will feed two or three ears of corn daily to each sow, 
besides the grass and water, as I believe for best results 
they should have a little grain. The sows that were bred 
for fall litters ran in the pasture with the others and wero 
removed into individual lots about a month before farrow- 
ing where they were given a little corn and some slop with 
plenty of grass. 

To have two litters a year, sows must wean their spring 
litters by May 1st, so as to be bred for early fall farrow, 
and the fall litters must be weaned in November or early 
December so as to be bred for March and April farrow. 



Care of the Brood Sows. 51 

In the North it is not always practical to have two litters 
a year and we find it often advisable to breed the sows so 
that they will farrow one litter the first year and two 
litters the next year, or in other words, three litters in two 
years. 



CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 



MARKING PIGS. 



The matter of haviug each litter raarked so that pigs 
may be identified at any time, is one that every breeder 
of pure-breds at least should follow without fail. There 
is nothing that would be more embarrassing than to have 
a prospective buyer, when looking over the pigs ask how 
we identify them and be unable to answer satisfactorily. 
After trying all kinds and varieties of ear labels we settled 
many years ago on the only system that we have found 
entirely reliable, and one that never fails to remain where 
it is put. This system is a series of small punch marks in 
the outer and inner rims of the two ears, and is fully illus- 
trated herein. 

One thing is quite important, namely, that a small punch 
be used, one not larger than the largest size in a revolving 
harness punch. The punch should be set on the rim ol 
the ear, only cutting out a half circle. If too large a 
punch is used the marks become too prominent as the pig 
grows to maturity. 

A small vest pocket memorandum book should always be 
carried, using one leaf for each sow and her litter, with 
the stamp, as shown in the illustrated system of marking, 
showing the same ear marks as are given to the pig. In 
this way as one goes through the herd and asks for the 
breeding of different pigs, it can very readily be given, 
by referring to the small memorandum book. To illustrate : 
Suppose a prospective buyer selected a pig and said to 
me, ''this pig has two marks in the right ear outer rim 
and one in the left, outer rim. What are his sire and dam 
and date of farrow?" By referring to the book showing 
this mark I will find it is the fifth litter farrowed during 
the year and shows that the sire was Rival's Majesty 150500 
and the dam Locksley's Artful Belle 178745 and was far- 



Marking Pigs. 



63 




64 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

rowed March 13th, 1913. This is all in a nut shell and 
very satisfactory to the one asking for the information. 
In this system we use the same mark for each pig in the 
litter, as the pig is not named or registered until sold, then 
a name is given and a registry number which is entered 
on the card record of that particular litter. If a sow in 
this litter or a boar is retained in the herd the card record 
should show it and ear mark as well. This system is 
started new the first of January each year, as the previous 
year's litters are supposed to be sold, but for the few that 
are not, or are intended to be retained in the herd, a 
memorandum is made. 

RECORD OF LITTERS. 

We have found the following card system for keeping 
a record of the litters, as well as disposition of each, to 
be the most convenient of anything we have ever tried. 
The cards should be 5x8 in. as illustrated. On one 
side should be written the pedigree of the dam, her de- 
scription, showing the ear marks she carries, and the date 
she was farrowed. The opposite side, as illustrated 
should show the sire and dam of the litter giving 
their herd book numbers, and cut of the pigs head should 
show how the litter was marked. You will note that this 
side of the card is ruled for the purpose of entering on 
same the disposition of the pigs of the litter ; the pigs that 
were sold as breeders as well as those for pork should 
all be entered on this side, showing to whom sold and price ; 
and where a portion of the litter was sold for pork, or 
butchered for family use, they should also be entered. 
Those sold for breeders should have their name and herd 
book numbers in proper column as shown. We give one of 
these cards to the litter of each sow. If she has two lit- 
ters in one calendar year she has two cards to show what 
her litters were in number and what disposition was made 
of them. It would surprise many persons to see the foot- 
ings of the sales from a registered sow seven or eight 
years of age, that has been a good producer once or twice 
each year. These cards should be kept in a small cabinet 
drawer and each one numbered with the number given to 
the sow, so that all cards for that sow may be of the same 



Marking Pigs, 



65 





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Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 




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Marking Pigs. 67 

number and in the same pocket. It takes but a moment's 
time where this system is followed to open the drawer of 
the cabinet, take all the cards belonging to a certain sow 
and add up what her produce has brought you. I had 
occasion a short time since to look over the cards of an 
old sow who was beginning to get along in years, and added 
up what we had received for her direct produce since she 
was old enough to breed, and found we had sold from this 
individual sow over $3,500.00 worth of pigs, and none of 
them at an extravagant price. It is much more conven- 
ient than having to use a herd record, as the cards are all 
in one bunch and quickly viewed. We have had many 
letters in the last few years asking us to send a blank card 
showing this system, and all inquirers, so far as I have 
heard, have put the system in practice and are well satisfied 
with it. A breeder cannot be too careful in keeping 
absolutely correct records of dates of farrows and of pigs 
sold. 



CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 

CARE OF PIGS. 
Care of Pigs for First Three Months After Weaning, 

Weaning time is a very critical period in the life of the 
pig. We will suppose that the pig has been fed in addition 
to what he received from the mother, so that he is well 
started, and, without changing the rations he has had, he 
should be fed at least twice daily all that he will eat up 
clean. It is a bad custom to feed any animal more than 
it will eat and clean up thoroughly. The pig should have, 
in addition to what it is fed in concentrated ration, at all 
times of the year, the run of a good fresh pasture of green 
feed. The different varieties are treated in another chapter. 

Probably the most economical ration for pigs for the 
first three months after weaning is a mixture of home- 
grown grains, preferably ground into a fine meal and prop- 
erly balanced. If one is growing his own grains for hog 
feed, a good ration is a mixture of corn and oats very 
finely ground. I do not mean broken up with a cheap steel 
grinder, but ground into a fine meal, and if it could be 
sifted, so much the better. Oat husks are not a very desira- 
ble adjunct in the mixture, but will not injure the pigs after 
a few months old, but during the first few weeks of their 
lives the husks prove more or less irritating in the in- 
testines. This mixture would be improved by an addi- 
tion of ten per cent tankage of not less than sixty 
per cent protein, unless one has enough skim milk with 
which to mix the ration into a slop as thick as can be 
poured. There is nothing better for growing pigs than 
skim milk properly balanced with three pounds of milk to 
one pound of ground carbonaceous grain. More than this 
amount of milk per pound of grain should not be used. 
Where there is no milk, tankage will practically take its 
place in balancing the ration. 

All the feed should be fed while sweet. When the 



Cake of Pigs. 69 

weather is not too hot it would be better to mix it ten or 
twelve hours before feeding, or so that it would soak after 
morning feeding time until the evening feed, and vice versa. 
If it is desired to feed three times a day, the noon feed 
could well be made up of shelled corn soaked at least 
twenty-four hours, or until the kernels become softened. 
Remember always to use the liquid or water from the 
soaked corn to help in mixing the slop feed, as there is a 
large amount of nutriment in water from soaked corn. It 
has been said that "it is to a pig what beer is to a Dutch- 
man." Some feeders use ear corn for soaking, but I have 
never liked to feed wet ears of corn, much preferring to 
shell it and soak as above. Above all, feed only clean, 
corn. 

Here let me mention again the matter of clean, fresh 
water never being neglected. 

In addition to the feeding and watering, there are other 
little attentions that must not be overlooked. The pigs 
should, if possible, have a shallow cement pool that could 
be used as a wallow, and it should be so made that the 
water can be changed every day or two. By having this 
kind of a wallow, and adding a good disinfectant and a 
little crude oil poured on the water, the skin of the pigs 
will be kept in perfect condition, without any danger of 
skin disease or eruption. 

Where one is not prepared to place these clear water 
pools or wallows, he should have a dipping tank. A 
dipping tank certainly gets the dip and oil on every part 
of the body, for the animals have to plunge or slide down 
the chute into the dipping tank, which thoroughly immerses 
them. 

One great trouble is that the pigs are not run through 
the dip as often as they should be. Once every week 
in warm weather is none too often if there are any lice or 
indications of skin trouble. After they once become en- 
tirely free from all such troubles, once every two to four 
weeks will do. 

If, however, there are lice on the pigs, a good quality of 
crude oil should be added to the dip, and the sleeping quar- 
ters carefully looked after. It would be useless to dip a 
drove of lousy pigs and allow them to return to an infected 



70 Forty Years' Experiexci of a Practical Hog Man. 

sleeping place. The sleeping quarters should be thoroughly 
cleaned out and the ground or floor thoroughly wet with 
the dip. This would be beneficial in several ways; if 
the ground was used instead of a floor, it would be 
dampened by the dip and oil. The oil would certainly be a 
great help here as well as in the dip, as it would keep down 
the dust. After the sleeping place has been oiled once or 
twice, there would be no danger of an accumulation of dust 
during the season; If the ground is treated in this way, 
there will be no need of bedding during the summer months, 
or until the weather becomes cold and bedding is needed 
for warmth. 

We have noticed in caring for pigs, that it is often the 
case that the feed used lacks in mineral matter, and we have 
therefore found it a great help to keep a mixture of mineral 
matter in troughs or boxes where the pigs and hogs can go 
to it at will, and it is surprising how much will be eaten 
by them. The mixture we generally use is composed of 
ground rock phosphate which we buy for use on our 
land, and to this we add finely ground limestone; to 
give it a flavor and a relish, also mix in some salt, and often 
add to this slacked lime, thoroughly mixed; these ingre- 
dients form a very desirable mineral feeding preparation. 

In carrying the pigs along from weaning time to ma- 
turity, too many should not be allowed to herd together — 
especially is this true if they are of various sizes and ages. 
Where they must run together in large numbers and vari- 
ous sizes, there should be a separate feeding place with a 
graduated creep where small pigs can pass through and 
eat by themselves, unmolested by the larger ones. There 
is no surer way of getting a bunch of runts on the farm 
than by allowing all sizes to eat in the same feeding yard. 

A creep of from twelve to sixteen feet long can be made 
between panels of a fence dividing the feed yard where large 
numbers are fed. These spaces should be made of rollers 
with a piece of iron in each end standing upright and set 
into a two by six or other size timber just wide enough 
apart, so the smaller pigs can pass through without injury. 

Pigs carried along in this way and fed and attended to 
in the above manner should make rapid growth and devel- 
opment, and if desired to be kej)t for breeders, this same 



Care of Pigs. 71 

treatment can be carried on during the first year. If it is 
planned to put them on an early market, and at a weight 
of from 200 to 250 pounds, the ration can be somewhat 
changed for the last sixty days by using more corn and a 
little less of the other kinds of feed. 

Probably better weights can be made and much more 
economically with ninety per cent corn and ten per cent 
tankage. This ration, by actual use, put a car of hogs 
on the market that topped the market, and showed by 
records to have been made at a less cost than those that 
were fed corn alone. It is a well-known fact that the first 
one hundred pounds of growth of any hog is made at a 
much less expense than any other subsequent one hundred 
pounds. So it is economy to feed all the good feed that 
can be properly digested from birth to maturity. 

There are feeders, and always have been, and probably 
always will be, who pay little attention to their pigs dur- 
ing the growing period of the first six months, believing 
that if they are turned out into any old pasture and can 
get water to drink, that they can grow a frame and some 
size at little or no cost. This may do for the careless 
farmer, who does not wish to give any time to his crop of 
pigs, expecting to do it all after they have lived long 
enough to develop some frame, which is in some way to be 
covered up and rounded out with an all-corn ration thrown 
out to them in any kind of a yard, in any season, expecting 
them to make pork at small expense and little time given 
to their care. This may be satisfactory to that class of 
men, but it has always been our plan and belief that the 
mother's milk fat of the little pig should never be lost, but 
be increased by liberal and proper rations during its entire 
life. 

Carrying the Pigs on After Six Months of Age Until Marketing. 
After the pigs have come to about the age of six 
months, there should not be much change in the feed 
from what they have had since weaning time; how- 
ever it is well at this time to increase the corn or the fat 
producing element in their feed, and reduce somewhat the 
other elements. Probably at this time there is nothing 
better than a rape pasture with what corn the pigs would 
clean up each day, with the addition of about 10% in weight 



72 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Max. 

of corn in good meat meal or tankage. This will bring 
them on to a finish and put two curls in their tails. This 
for spring pigs in preparation for early marketing in the 
fall or for shipping out as breeders. The grain ration of 
course may be varied, using ground corn meal with 10% 
tankage, or by using ground barley or wheat or rye 
with corn meal. Any mixture of fattening grains bal- 
anced with a little tankage where skim milk cannot be 
had is all that is necessary with good pasture to make 
rapid gain. 

WEIGHT FOR AGE OF PIGS. 

This is a very difficult subject, as there is no iron clad 
rule for pigs of certain ages. A litter of pigs from a sow 
that was a poor milker would not grow out at weaning timo 
nearly as heavy as a litter the same age from a sow that 
was a good milker. Neither would either litter make as 
many pounds per age in the hands of a poor feeder as in 
the hands of a good feeder. Much will also depend on the 
inherited ability from the sire and dam. Even different 
individuals in the same litter would differ in weight at a 
certain age if each was fed by the same man on the same 
ration, so it seems that not much information can be given 
along this line, except in a general way. 

One feeder will take a litter of pigs from a sow, that he 
is particularly interested in making as large as possible at 
six months of age and he can make them weigh as high as 
225 lbs. each and possibly even more than this. He may take 
another litter and fail to make, with the same care and ra- 
tion, even 180 lbs. each at six months of age. While another 
man may take the same two litters and feed them and not 
make over 100 lbs. each on one litter and 125 lbs. on the 
other, so that we really cannot say what a pig should weigh 
at a certain age as there are so many conditions to be con- 
sidered. 

On the other hand the pig that is pushed to weigh every 
pound possible at six months, will, if he accomplishes the 
feat of weighing 225 or 250 lbs., as is occasionally the case, 
be practically ruined for future use in the breeding herd, but 



Care of Pigs. 



73 



of course for the market lie could be cashed in quicker than 
a much lighter weight pig. I think a fair weight might be 
as follows : 

3 months of age 60 to 75 lbs. 

6 months of age 140 to 180 lbs. 

8 months of age 225 to 250 lbs. 

1 year " 300 to 350 lbs. 

This will be about right unless the pig has been crowded 
for show, or for the purpose of seeing how heavy it could 
be made at a certain age. For breeding purposes pigs that 







A Convenient and Sanitary Hog Wallow. (See Page 69). 



are not developed too fast up to from 6 to 9 months of age, 
generally develop into larger and better breeding ani- 
mals than those that are crowded to the limit from birth. 

We must always keep in mind that in a cold climate pigs 
mature much faster in the spring and early summer, 
than they do in late fall and winter, so that there would be 
a difference in weight for age between spring and fall lit- 
ters. 



CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 

INBREEDING, LINE BREEDING AND CROSS 
BREEDING. 

Inbreeding is one of the surest ways known to establish 
permanent type in animals, and has been from the time of 
the early history of improved herds of swine, as well as all 
other domestic animals. It might be said it is nature's 
way of reproduction among animals and all living things, 
except the human family, but it must be carried on with 
great caution when handled by man. Of course in the 
matter of wild animals, birds, etc., it is simply a matter 
of the survival of the fittest, so that weaklings would never 
probably be reproducers of their kind. For instance, take 
game birds ; there seems to be no degeneration of 
their species, as there would be in animals of the-, 
domestic kind if they were allowed to take nature's course 
unlimited, but a man of wise iudi^inent can inbreed even to 
a great degree by being extremely careful in his matings 
and always seeing that no female with a marked weak point 
in her make-up is ever mated with a sire with the same 
weakness. In other words, the mating should be of two 
animals of similar blood lines, both strong and well devel- 
oped in their general make-up. In this latter case the 
produce should be an improvement on either sire or dam, 
and yet there will occasionally crop out an inferior animal 
or two in the offspring which should immediately be dis- 
carded as a future reproducer of its kind. Herds would be 
improved to a great degree if this rule was practiced intel- 
ligently, but woe be unto the practice of indiscriminate in- 
breeding. 

Line breeding is somewhat similar to inbreeding, but not 
carried to as great an extent. It is the mating of animals 
along similar blood lines on the part of both sire and dam 
with occasional out-crosses, that is, a cross of different 
blood lines, J>^/^ of the same type, a little further back' in 



Inbreeding, Line Bkeedixg and Cross Breeding. 



75 



the pedigree, as illustrated iu this chapter where a sample 
pedigree of a closely inbred animal is shown and also 
another pedigree of a strongly line-bred animal. 

Cross breeding, strictly speaking, is understood to mean 
the mating of two animals that are of pure breeding but 
of different breeds, as crossing a Berkshire boar on a 
Poland-China sow, or any other of the pure breeds bred to- 
gether. Cross-breeding from the feeders' and farmers' 
standpoint produces in the first cross a veiy superior feed- 
ing animal, often the produce being better for pork 
purposes than the pure-bred but it must stop at the first 
cross ; by further crossing, the animals deteriorate and the 
result is the reversion to the scrub. It is not generally 
customaiy to do any cross breeding except for experiments 
or special results in the first cross. 

SPECIMEN PEDIGREE OF A LINE BRED ANIMAL. 
CLIMAX BARON 112983. 

Farrowed September 26th, 1907. 



f 



Masterpiece Climax . 
100001 



Matchless Baroness 
103002 



Masterpiece 77000. 



Lustre Latly 2d 
66416 



Black Robinhood 

66086 
Duchess 221st 56257 

Imp. Lustre's Bachelor 
52262 
■ Columbus Girl 2d 
47068 



Masterpiece 77000..- 



Baron's Belle 4th 
88138 



Black Robinhood 

66086 
Duchess 221st 56257 

Baron Lee of River- 
side 70400 

Carlinville Belle 5th 
63863 



You will notice that Climax Baron 112983 is a line-hred animal; 
that his sire Masterpiece Climax, is a son of Masterpiece, and his 
dam. Matchless Baroness, is a daughter of Masterpiece. But Master- 
piece Climax, the sire of Climax Baron, was out of a sow sired by an 
imported boar, giving an outcross that proved especially desirable in 
our herd. 



76 



Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Max. 



SPECIMEN PEDIGREE OF AN INBRED ANIMAL. 

FAIRFIELD RIVAL 112412. 
Farrowed September 10th, 1907. 



' Lord Premier's 
Rival 92805 . 



Longfellow's Duch- 
ess 8th 102611 . , 



Lord Premier 50001. 



Baron Lee 4th 33446 

Margery 37491 



Lee's Artful Belle 

3d 88403 J Baron Lee 8th 48160 

I Artful Belle 30th 64947 



Premier Longfellow 
68600 



Duchess 279th 75009. 



Baron Lee 6th 34246 
Duchess 222d 60002 



Lord Premier 50001 
Duchess 168th 44532 



FAIRFIELD RIVAL 112412 is an intensely inbred animal and a 
careful study of this boar's pedigree may not be out of place. 

You will note that the sire of Fairfield Rival was Lord Premier's 
Rival, a son of Lord Premier, and that Lord Premier's sire was Baron 
Lee 4th. The dam of Lord Premier's Rival, was a daughter of Baron- 
Lee 8th, a full brother of the sire of Lord Premier, and the next dam, 
Artful Belle 30th, was a daughter of Lord Premier. 

Notice also how the dam of Fairfield Rival is bred. She is a 
daughter of Premier Longfellow, who was sired by Baron Lee 6th a 
full brother of the sire of Lord Premier, and Premier Longfellow's dam, 
Duchess 222d, was a daughter of Lord Premier. Her dam, Duchess 
279th, was a daughter of Lord Premier, and was out of a daughter of 
King Lee 2d a full brother of the sire of Lord Premier. 

No matter how you trace the breeding of Fairfield Rival it traces 
directly to one family, that is. Lord Premier or his sire, or full bro- 
thers of his sire. 



CHAPTER SIXTEEN. 

SELECTING A BOAR FOR USE ON GRADE OR 
COMMON SOWS. 
There are tliousands of j^ure-bred boars bought annually 
for use in the herds of farmers who do not care to grow 
hogs except for the open market, and while the selection 
of a boar for this purpose is of much importance, yet it 
is not so necessary that the buyer should be a student of 
pedigrees as in the case of the breeder of pure-breds, but 
it is of vital importance that the farmer buy a pure-bred 
boar and that the boar be not only well bred but a good 
individual of the easy-feeding, early-maturing sort, and 
himself vigorous and masculine. Such a boar will add 
several times his cost in the feeding and quick-maturing 
qualities of his pigs from common sows. Sometimes con- 
servative farmers do not like to pay the price asked by 
breeders for their good hogs, yet I feel sure it is false 
economy, as the better ones will prove the most profitable. 
I once saw a farmer outbid a breeder for a good boar, and 
he got him at a higher price than many breeders will pay, 
saying, "I never stop at any reasonable price for a good 
boar to sire pigs for the market." This man was a breeder 
of i^ure-bred cattle and knew the value of a good sire, and 
bred and fed hogs at a profit. 

Buy Your Boar Early. 

To the farmer who wishes to purchase a boar for use as 
a producer of good feeding hogs for the market, I would 
urge that he do not wait too long as many do, but that he 
buy the boar early, while the herd from which it is to come 
is not all culled, so that he may get a better choice and the 
pig may become accustomed to his new home long before 
he is to be used. 

When the pig first comes to his new home he should be 
given a good-sized grass lot to exercise in ; a dry, warm 
place to sleep, and where other pigs or hogs cannot worry 



Forty Years" Expehiexce of a Practical Hog Man. 



him by ruiming along the division, fence. Take good 
care of him, feeding a good ration that will make him 
grow rather than fatten him. Give him plenty of good, 
clean water. Handle him as frequently as possible that he 
may become gentle. A boar can run with sows under 
l^roper conditions, but I have known men to buy a boar, 
and as soon as he arrives turn him in with a lot of 
sows, and they would almost ruin him, chasing him 
about the lot until he would pay no attention to them, and 
the result would be a letter of complaint to the seller, 
claiming that the boar was no good. Many a good boar 




Feeding Time at Lovejoy Farm. 

has been replaced for no other cause than poor judgment 
in starting to use him. We replaced one a few years ago, 
and this discarded boar got ninety-six pigs for a neighbor 
who took him at our request. A man must have "horse 
sense" if he is a successful hog man, and he must use it at 
all times. A boar pig at $50.00 to use to produce pigs for 
market will add value enough to the pig crop that he gets, 
to pay for two or three such boars — value in finish, 
feeding cpiality, uniformity and color, all of which go to 
help top the market when they are sold. Read what I have 
said about handling the herd boar and turning the boar, in 
with the sows. 



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. 

FEEDING HOGS FOR MARKET. 

The matter of feeding hogs for breeders has been touch- 
ed on in this book in another chapter, but it would be well 
to say something along the line of feeding hogs for market. 
It is the general custom- where hogs are fed for market 
to run them together in larger numbers than where they 
are fed for breeding purposes only, and for this reason the 
system of feeding may be a little different. 

In growing hogs for market it is quite important that 
the litters come as nearly at the same time in the early 
spring as it is possible to have them, that they may be 
uniform in size when the marketable age arrives. These 
pigs should be fed lightly while suckling the sows 
and not weaned any earlier than ten to twelve weeks old 
that they may be well on in the process of feeding, and 
after weaning should be placed in a first-class pasture where 
the grass is fresh, thick and green. Clover of course is 
one of the early things. Possibly the fall sown rye should 
come on first ; a pasture of this would be a grand place to 
start the pigs after weaning. They should, however, have a 
good ration of some kind of flesh producing feed, grains 
that are produced on the farm if possible, adding to this 
as they develop some shelled corn soaked for about 12 to 
14 hours ; enough to keep them growing and developing at 
a rapid rate. 

After the rye pasture then a choice clover pasture or 
alfalfa which is still better. Later a field of rape sown 
early enough so that it will be several inches high before 
the pigs are turned into it. This would furnish them a 
very satisfactory green feed for the balance of the season, 
or until time to begin feeding green corn of some kind, 
preferably from a field of evergreen sweet com, which 
when planted in the northern country, would be ready the 
first of August. This is a great feed to put on growth 



80 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

and flesh but should be fed with great care until the pigs 
become used to it, as it is apt to scour them if fed too lib- 
erally at first. This will last until the field corn is in good 
condition to commence feeding. 

I am practically sure that much of our so-called hog 
cholera in the early months of the fall or late summer, is 
nothing more than a condition brought about by overfeed- 
ing green corn when it is in the roasting ear stage. Pigs 
that have been fed possibly on scant feed during the sum- 
mer and that are in rather thin condition would, if given 
too much green corn in its early stage eat much more than 
they could properly digest, bringing about a condition 
that leaves the pigs ready to take any disease that comes 
along. If they are troubled with worms at this time, and the 
worms are not expelled, they will die about as fast as if 
they had the cholera. 

Pigs handled as above mentioned from birth, should be 
ready to market at any time after seven or eight months 
of age, as suits the owner, or could be carried along until 
late fall or early winter, but should be marketed before 
cold weather comes on. It is not so easy to make rapid 
gains in cold weather as during the early fall months. Pigs 
handled in this manner should top the market whenever 
they are shipped. 

Of course they should be as well bred as possible from 
high-grade sows and pure-bred sires to make the best 
gain, and should also have other attentions such as either 
good bathing pools made of cement, as described in this 
book, in which they can lie during the hot hours of the day, 
or should often be run through the dipping tank, or should 
be sprayed with some good disinfectant to which crude oil 
has been added, thus keeping them free from vermin, the 
skin in good condition, and assuring good health. 

The mixture of mineral matter mentioned in another 
place should always be before them under cover where they 
can go and eat when they desire. They should be kept 
free from worms. This may be done by various methods 
as herein described. 

The feeding of hogs for market will be found one of the 
most profitable departments of the farm, and with as little 
trouble as anything could be for the amount of money it 



Feeding Hogs for Market SI 

will bring in, and- quite a large number of hogs might be fed 
for market on every farm even if it be a small one, and if 
one will be sure to have his hogs inoculated with both the 
virus and serum, known as the simultaneous treatment, be- 
fore they are even exposed to cholera, he need have no fears 
of losing them, provided the work is properly done. They 
may become slightly sick from the treatment at about 14 
to 15 days after being treated, but it will soon pass off and 
the death loss should be but little if any. The writer 
knows one party that had 3000 inoculated and lost but ten 
from the treatment. In our own herd in 1913 we inoculated 
219 and lost but four wliich were quite young and probably 
got a little larger dose of virus than they could carry. 

This growing and feeding of hogs for market should be- 
come more common on the average farm. Too many 
farmers have the idea that the danger of cholera is too 
great to make any attempt at the growing of hogs for 
market, which is all wrong. There is nothing better than 
to be able to ship to market at one time, a carload of choice 
finished hogs, which will always bring in a large amount 
of money with seemingly little expense. 

Value of a Uniform Carload of Pork Hogs. 

If one thinks that all kinds of hogs will sell for the same 
price on the market, just let him ship a carload of even 
weight and uniformly colored pigs to any market and watch 
them sell in comparison to a load of mixed breeding, colors 
and weights. He will then be fully convinced that it pays 
and pays well to use a good pure-bred boar for producing 
pork hogs. The writer once shipped a carload of short 
year-old hogs to the Chicago market that averaged 409 
lbs. on the scales there. The shrinkage was but 80 lbs. 
on the whole load, and they brought 25c per 100 lbs. above, 
the top of the market that day. 

Why? Simply because they were as alike as a lot of 
beans, and were so well finished that there was little shrink 
in them. 

It is a well known fact that quality counts in any market 
and with any kind of stock or other produce of the farm. 



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

"ARE YOU FEEDING RIGHT?" 

The following is an editorial taken from a recent issue of 
The Swine World. 

We have never practiced this system fully, but believe 
that Prof. Evvard has worked out a feeding system which 
greatly reduces the cost of feeding and lessens labor, and 
at the same time secures no little increase of growth from 
a given amount of feed. 

It is my opinion that we will practice this system on 
Lovejoy Farm much more in the future than we have in 
the past: 

"At the recent Iowa Swine Breeders' meeting, held at 
Iowa Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa, Prof. John M. Ev- 
vard stated that rape was without a peer as the best of all 
forage crops for swine, feeding value alone considered. He 
stated that rape was second only to alfalfa for the number 
of pigs that it would support per acre, and on account of 
the low price of rape seed and the small amount of labor 
required to raise the crop, that it deserved the attention of 
all swine raisers. 

' ' Prof. Eward emphasized the well-known fact that corn 
was deficient as a single swine food, and laid great stress 
on the necessity of forage crops. It was while speaking 
on this subject that he made the above statement relative 
to the advantage of growing rape. 

"However, forage crops by themselves, says Prof. Ev- 
vard, are not sufficient to produce best results, even when 
fed with corn, and he advises the use of some concentrated 
supplementary feed such as old process oil meal or tankage. 
In this connection Prof. Eward made a very interesting 
statement and one that we fully agree with, and that is, 
that oil meal and tankage fed together in equal parts, is a 
better feed for swine than when fed singly. 



Are You Feeding Right? 83 

*'In a series of carefully conducted experiments, Prof. 
Evvard determined that the cost of 100 lbs. of gain when 
oil meal was the supplementary feed with corn, was $5.62. 
When tankage was used with corn, the cost per 100 lbs. was 
$5.30. When equal parts of tankage and oil meal were used, 
the cost of 100 lbs. gain was $5.04. 

"Another interesting fact that was brought out in these 
series of experiments and one that will interest every 
thoughtful swine breeder, is that hogs that are allowed an 
opportunity to eat their feed at will, gain more rapidly and 
on less feed that when fed by hand. In the experiments 
conducted by Prof. E\^ard, an equal number of 260-pound 
sows were placed in two lots and both fed the same ration. 
One lot was fed shelled corn in a self-feeder, and gained 
2.4 pounds a day and required 457 pounds of corn for 
100 pounds of gain. Another lot was placed in the care of 
a practical and experienced swine feeder and fed by hand. 
The gain was 2.09 pounds a day, and it required 478 
pounds of corn for 100 pounds of gain. In another lot the 
same number of sows of the same average weight as lots one 
and two, were fed shelled corn and tankage. The corn and 
tankage was fed in a self-feeder and the daily gain was 
2.35 pounds, and it required 470 pounds of corn for 
100 pounds of gain. Lot number four averaging the same 
weight and the same number as lots one, two and three, 
were fed shelled corn and tankage by hand and had the 
watchful care of an experienced feeder and made a daily 
gain of 1.03 pounds, and it required 483 pounds of corn 
to 100 pounds of gain. 

''This experiment plainly shows that corn supplemented 
with proper concentrated feed and fed so that Mr. Pig has 
an opportunity to feed himself at his own free will, makes 
the most desirable gain at the lowest cost." 



CHAPTER NINETEEN. 

PRACTICAL FEEDS AND FEEDING. 

Under this head comes tankage, which is the by-prodnct 
of the packing house, made up from various waste pro- 
ducts steamed to a high degree of heat, after which the 
hquid is drawn off and the residue dried and ground into 
a fine meaL Meat meal is practically the same thing only 
wholly made from meat scraps. Both of these feeds are 
extremely high in protein, which is a very necessary ele- 
ment combined with other feeds to make up a balanced 
ration. 

From 5 to 10 per cent of 60 per cent protein tankage is 
generally sufficient to balance a corn ration for swine. I 
have mentioned the use of tankage in several places in this 
book. 

There is another variety of meat meal which the writer 
has used quite extensively. It is purchased from the 
large butcher shops, or from the small packing house near 
home where a few hundred hogs are slaughtered daily, 
and is known as ^'cracklings," being the compressed part 
of the fat after the lard is pressed out by hydraulic pres- 
sure, and usually comes in cakes of about 125 lbs. each. 
We purchase these cakes half a ton or a ton at a time, break 
them up into small pieces with an axe and run the broken 
pieces through our steel burr grinder, making a finely 
ground article of pure scrap meat. We add about five per 
cent of this to a pig's ration, and it is certainly relished by 
pigs of any age. It keeps the bowels open and in nice 
condition, makes the hair glossy and is of great value. 

Hogging Down Corn. 

Some farmers and perhaps breeders of pure-breds, prac- 
tice the custom of "hogging down" a field of corn. If this 
is to be done — and it is a good custom — it would be a very 



Practical Feeds and Feeding. 



85 



great help at the time of the last cultivation of the corn 
to sow some rye or rape, or both, in the corn and let it get 
a few inches high by the time the hogs would be turned 
into the corn. This would be a help in balancing the 
ration. It is also well if the field of corn is adjoining a 
clover or alfalfa field, as either would have the same 
tendency to make a quicker and a cheaper growth 
than would the corn alone. If the field is large it will 
be well to fence off by some kind of temporary fence, a 
portion not too large, and let the hogs have that until it 
is well worked down, preferably by the older hogs that 
would be ready for market first and followed by the young- 
er hogs or shotes that do not need so heavv a feeding of 




Hogging Down Corn. 

corn. This is a very economical waj' of finishing up a 
bunch of hogs for the market. 

Prof. Carmichael, University of Illinois, states that a 
field had been planted with corn continuously for thirty- 
three years and every year was ''hogged down." 

Within the last year or two the owner desiring to learn 
the condition of the soil and how much corn this particular 
])iece was producing after having been planted to corn for 
thirty-three continuous years, measured ofi a piece before 
turning in the hogs, and by actual measurement learned 
that the land was producing over 100 bushels of corn to 
the acre. 



86 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

It behooves the thinking farmer to keep up soil produc- 
tion, especially during these days of high priced land, and 
this can be done profitably and economically by "hogging 
down" corn, especially if rape or some of the clovers or 
other grasses, or some of the grains like rye, is sown in 
the field when the com is laid by. This will give a good 
balanced ration, and the hogs will do the harvesting them- 
selves without cost to the farmer, and will doubtless, tak- 
ing one year with another, bring the selling price of his 
corn up to an average of not less than $1.00 a bushel. 

I have a friend who made a comparison between "hogging 
down" part of a field of wheat, in 1913, and cutting the other 
part of the field, threshing it and hauling it to the elevator 
and selling it at 80c per bushel. Estimating the yield of 
the entire field the same, the portion that he "hogged 
down ' ' after weighing the hogs when turned into the wheat 
field, and again when the wheat was all eaten and the hogs 
sold on the market, he found that his wheat that was "hog- 
ged down" brought him $1.40 per bushel compared with 
80c per bushel for that threshed and hauled to market. 
Further than this it required no expense to market the 
wheat that was "hogged down," and it also benefitted the 
land to have the hogs on it. There are many little things 
in the hog business if one will try them out that are not 
only more economical but are less work than the old 
methods. 

Of course where men are breeding hogs of the pure 
breeds, to be sold as breeders, it is necessary that they 
should be in good flesh and prime condition at all times, to. 
be ready for inspection by visiting breeders. With such 
animals additional care and feed may be necessary. Cer- 
tainly it is a good plan to have everything in the hog line 
at least in good breeding condition and always ready for 
inspection. 

Every breeder or feeder should know what are the best 
grasses, grains and other feeds that can be grown in his 
locality, or can easily get this information from his State 
Agricultural College, and should use his judgment in 
selecting those that are best. The essential thing is to 
have plenty of green feed at all times of the year if pos- 
sible, either for grazing or that can be used during 



Practical Feeds and Feeding. 87 

the season when there is no pasture, as in our northern 
and' western States. In portions of the country where 
roots are grown to some extent, such as mangels, sugar 
beets, turnips, etc., they can be used with success as a 
succulent feed during the winter months, but my experience 
is that the average farmer or any help that he can hire will 
do mighty little getting down on his knees to work among 
roots of any kind, which is necessary in order to thin out 
and keep clean from weeds until they become large enough 
to be cultivated in the proper manner, so the root ques- 
tion with us has never, with the exception of one or two 
years, been considered in our ration for succulent feed, pre- 
ferring to use the last cutting of green alfalfa instead. 
Let me emphasize the great importance of pasture and 
succulent feed at all times. 

COOKING OF FEED. 

It is a well-known fact that the nutriment in feed for 
swine, or its value as a flesh producer, is not increased 
by cooking ; but it is also a well-known fact that during the 
cold months, at least in the northern states, much benefit 
is derived in feeding Fall pigs and others not well on to ma- 
turity, a warm feed rather than one mixed with cold, icy 
water. 

There are some kinds of feed, however, often fed dur- 
ing the winter that require thorough cooking; particu- 
larly is this true of potatoes, which some people use when 
they have a quantity of small ones sorted out from the reg- 
ular lot. Potatoes are of little food value unless thor- 
oughly cooked, and when so cooked and mixed with corn- 
meal and other ground grains are really a valuable adjunct 
to the ration. Shelled corn is often fed to young pigs dur- 
ing the winter, and this is much improved by being steamed 
until soft, then cooled down to the proper temperature for 
feeding, but such matters will be treated in another chapter. 
We have for many years made it a practice to feed Fall 
litters (either not weaned or recently weaned) during the 
entire winter on a feed mixed with hot water that would 
make it quite warm for the pigs when poured in the trough. 
For this purpose we have used a boiler of about ten-horse- 
power capacity, in which steam can be raised in a very few 
minutes, with pressure enough to heat several barrels of 



88 FoKTY Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

water. While steam is getting up the water is let into the 
barrels or mixing tank, which, in our case, is on wheels and 
divided into four compartments, and as soon as steam is up 
the hose is turned in and in a few minutes the water is as 
hot as necessary. We then mix in the feed, perhaps of sev- 
eral different mixtures in the four compartments, to ac- 
commodate the animals of different ages and conditions. 
This is fed and quickly eatlen, when the pigs go back to 
their warm sleeping houses, thoroughly satisfied and con- 
tented. Whereas, if cold or ice water was used, it would 
require most of the day for the animal heat to warm the 
pig up to its normal temperature, thus taking more feed 
and giving far less satisfactory results. 

There are various methods of getting hot water for the 
purpose of mixing the feed for pigs during cold weather. 
There is manufactured a very desirable outfit for heating- 
water by process of steam, with an attachment to tempo- 
rarily or permanently warm farrowing pens. We speak ad- 
visedly regarding this cooker for the reason we formerly 
used two of them, but in later years thought we needed a 
larger affair and purchased a ten-horse-power steam boiler, 
which has proven a great success. 

There are other kinds of hot-water heaters made for thi?^ 
purpose, as well as the old-fashioned kettle set in a stone 
arch, which will do where but little hot water is needed, but 
it would be entirely unfit for furnishing hot water for a 
large herd. 

The kind of steam generator or hot-water heater is im- 
material so long as it does the work and furnishes enough 
for mixing the feed for the herd, but I must insist that, for 
young pigs before and just after weaning, warm feed is 
necessary for best results and is of equal value for young 
shotes. 

When the hogs are well matured it is not necessary to 
give them this extra attention and they can make good 
growth and development on dry feed, where plenty of pure 
water is supplied for them. This saves much labor and pre- 
vents the freezing of swill in troughs. 

Of course the breeders in the southern States and warmer 
countries are not supposed to have this extra expense in 



Practical Feeds and Feeding. 89 

warming feed, yet even in such states there are times when 
warm feed would taste wonderfully good to a pig from a 
late Fall litter. 

SOILING. 

Where large numbers of hogs are kept on a small farm, 
it is sometimes quite convenient to have small plots of green 
feed that can be cut and fed in the troughs or feed ]ilaces 
where the hogs are kept. This method of feeding green 
feed is known as "Soiling." For instance, take a small 
patch of fall rye, which is about the earliest green thing to 
be found in the spring, and when it gets up a few inches 
high it can be mowed off in small quantities daily and fed 
to the hogs in their regular feeding places while fresh aiid 
green. A verj'' small piece of ground in this manner will 
furnish a large amount of green feed. While the green rye 
is being cut off some other crop can be planted or sown such 
as rape for feeding after the rye is gone and the clovers are 
dried up. A small patch of alfalfa adjoining hog pastures 
would also be of great value; this could be cut and fed 
green, and a very small j^atch would feed a large number 
of hogs for some time. By feeding it in racks such as de- 
scribed in this book, there would be very little waste from 
soiling. 

After rape once gets a good start and becomes large 
enough to mow and feed as in the above manner it can be 
recut as fast as it grows up to the proper height, all 
through the season until freezing weather comes. A small 
field of evergreen sweet corn can be handled in the same 
way. As soon as the ears are formed and are of proper 
size for roasting, this may be cut and given to the pigs 
daily in small quantities at first, increasing as they become 
used to it, until they can have all they will eat up clean. 
1 believe soiling can be practiced with economy, especially 
where hogs are kept in separate lots and could not be placet! 
in a pasture. Besides there would be no waste from soil 
ing as none of the feed would be injured by the animals 
walking over it. We have never practiced this system to 
any extent, but believe it could be made one of the best 
ways of handling green feed where one did not have suit- 
able pastures for each lot. 



90 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

Roots could be handled in this way also, but would not 
be necessary except for winter, when green forage was im- 
possible other than alfalfa, cowpeas and clover. 

HOW TO MAKE COB CHARCOAL. 

As charcoal is a very desirable supplemental food for 
pigs, it is well to know how to make a good article and 
cheaply, particularly in the cornbelt where there are more 
or less cobs after corn shelling season. 

Dig a hole in the ground about six feet deep, and four 
or five feet across, bricking it up with fire brick so there 
will be no danger of its caving in or becoming broken up. 
Build it up to a level with the ground and have a heavy 
galvanized iron cover made large enough to cover the pit 
tightly. Then take a double wagon box full of dry cobs 
and start a little fire in the bottom of the pit, adding a few 
cobs as fast as those in the pit begin to burn and come to 
a red glow — actually burned to a charcoal — yet looking 
bright red. As fast as this condition appears in the pit 
add a few more cobs, until the entire pit becomes filled to 
the top with a glowing mass of burned cobs. Then have 
liandy a few barrels of water in which salt is dissolved 
and sprinkle it on this pit of burning, glowing cobs 
until the fire is entirely extinguished. Then cover the pit 
with the iron cover, packing a little dirt on the edge so no 
air can get in the glowing mass, and leave it until the next 
day, when the fire will be all gone and the pit full of 
charred cobs in a condition where they can almost be 
crushed with the thumb and finger. Let it stand until you 
know it is absolutely cool before feeding, then put a bushel 
basket full in every lot where there is a sow and litter 
or where there are eight or more pigs. It will be sur- 
prising to you to see how eagerly this is eaten by pigs 
and hogs of every age and condition. They seem to 
relish it very much and it acts as a corrector of acidity. 
This is a good thing to have on hand at all times if possi- 
ble. Good charcoal cannot be made by raking up cobs from 
the feed yard and burning them in the open air, for the 
reason they will either all burn up to ashes, or if put out 
with water, will leave many of them simply scorched and 
not burned to charcoal. 



Practical Feeds axd Feeding. 



91 



CONVENIENT RACK FOR FEEDING ALFALFA. 

Among the equipments for handling roughage on a hog 
farm the accompanying design furnishes a very convenient 
way for feeding Alfalfa, Cowpeas or clover hay, all of 
which are first class feed for winter forage for the herd. 




HOUSECLEANING. 

Besides the matter of keeping all sleeping pens and feed- 
ing places clean, it is well for the breeder to look carefully 
after the premises in general by having a regular clean-up 
at least twice a year, buildings, yards, fences, etc. This 
would not only give a good appearance but would be a bene- 
fit along sanitary lines. There are many good disinfectants 
and some should be used weekly, by spraying the troughs, 
feeding utensils, mixing barrels, etc., as well as the 
feeding floors and sleeping places. Feed yards should be 
well cleaned up and kept free from cobs and other accum- 
ulations. These are small matters, yet quite important and 
should be carefullv looked after. 



92 



FoHTY Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



^/V//^i'^ f/y/j-ijAA 






Z?--2 



CHAPTER TWENTY. 

ADVANTAGES OF SHOWING. 

For the breeder of pure bred bog's wbo wishes to estab- 
lish a substantial trade, it is very necessary that, as soon as 
he becomes well versed and properly started in his breeding 
line, he should make it a practice each year to fit a show 
herd. Possibly at first it is as well for him to prepare only 
for County Shows, until he thoroughly learns what is re- 
quired to win at the big Shows and Expositions. There is 
no way, in my opinion, in which a young breeder can so 
quickly get before the people and started to selling his hogs 
for breeders as to annually fit enough animals to fill the 
classes usually provided for in the various premium lists. 

The reason I suggest that the beginner commence his 
show career at the County Fairs, is from the fact that I 
passed through all these little troubles when I was a great 
many years younger than I am now and know what the dif- 
ficulties are for a beginner. It is hardly expected that a 
young breeder who has never followed the practice of show- 
ing, and who has probably not spent a very large amount 
of money in the foundation of his herd, can win at State 
Fairs and Expositions where only a few great show animals 
can get in the money. Let the County Fairs be the stepping 
stones to larger ones where it requires, practically speak- 
ing, the P. T. Barnums of the business to win. 

Never will I forget the time way back in the 70 's when I 
made my first show at a State Fair. It was at the Illinois 
State Fair when it went around on wheels, and that year 
was located at Freeport. I had only been in the business 
a year; knew nothing of what it required to even have a 
chance of getting into the money; but nevertheless I was 
full of enthusiasm and overflowing with ignorance. I fitted 
up a portion of a herd which I thought was ''some pigs" 



94 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

but found, much to my profit eventually, that they were 
only ordinary. Starting out with much pride and having 
already figured the amount of money I would bring home 
by adding up the amounts in the premium lists, I found 
after the Fair was over, that I was really a wiser man and 
richer in knowledge, but poorer financially than when I ar- 
rived on the grounds, beaming with confidence. I did not 
even get in sight of the premium money. Those were the 
days when a young breeder was hardly noticed, but, being 
made of the kind of stuff that never gives up, but sticks, I 
did not parade the grounds condemning the Judges for 
lack of knowledge, nor inform the managers of the State 
Fair that I would never show again at their Fair; but 
quietly studied the conformation of the animals that were 
good enough to win, then returned home with the deter- 
mination to come a little stronger next year. 

This was followed up several years before getting much 
above the white and yellow ribbons. The only blue thing I 
found in those days was my feelings in not being able to 
win. This is where I made a mistake by attempting, 
ignorant as I was, to show at the great State Fairs, rather 
than starting at County Fairs. But the determination was 
in me and the show ring was followed, as large as it was and 
as great as the shows were, from 1877 until 1893, when the 
climax was reached at the Chicago Worlds Fair. As I 
grew in knowledge and experience each year, after a few 
years I was able to win a ffew of the better prizes and as 
the years came and went, won more prizes, until it was a 
pretty sure thing when I started out on an eight weeks' 
trip to the Big State Fairs, that I would win money enough 
to pay all expenses and more and be benefitted greatly by 
building a substantial acquaintance among breeders in our 
line. 

The trade grew annually and after winning the Grand 
Championship at the "World's Fair at Chicago for the best 
herd, consisting of one boar and four sows, over one year 
old, my name was finally placed on the map and my son and 
I have practically discontinued showing since that time, 

I strongly urge the show ring as a means, not only of 
education for the breeder, but of building up a substantial 
business. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. 

SELECTING THE SHOW HERD. 

The selection of the show herd requires a knowledge 
of what it takes, when well fitted, to win. One should 
commence months in advance of the show to make his se- 
lections, first making up his mind whether or not he wishes 
to fill all the various classes listed in the premium lists, 
which are now so made up that the same animals can show 
throughout the circuit without being required to carry 
along other animals of various ages from those first se- 
lected to fill the classes. 

In making the selection for the show herd, commence first 
by selecting the animals that are required to show in the 
''Aged Class." 

The aged sow class should be made up of animals that 
have proven themselves breeders and should show by their 
appearance that they have been breeders. Let them, how- 
ever, be well fitted without overdoing and as uniform as 
possible in type and conformation, with an aged boar of 
the same general type, showing that he has been a breeder, 
only of a more masculine appearance, thus making up a 
desirable herd for the aged class. 

The tusks of the boar should be removed before starting 
out on the show circuit and should be so closely cut that no 
trace of the same could be seen. This should be done both 
for the safety of the caretaker and those about the show 
ring. 

Next, select the senior yearlings, a boar and three sows — 
which should carry as much size, or nearly so as the aged 
herd, but would naturally be somewhat smoother owing to 
the difference in age and previous service. Be sure that 
these are also uniform in type with the aged herd. 

Next select the junior yearlings — a boar and three sows, 
which are, generally speaking, the sweetest things in the 



96 FoKTY Years' Experience of a PeacTical Hog Man. 

show ring, and being at an age tliat shows full development 
and yet not required to have produced any offspring, nat- 
urally will be much smoother and more in bloom. This class 
is usually the best of all at any breed show. These 
should be of the same general type as the older ones se- 
lected, and should be in the pink of show condition — well 
developed at every point — carrying all the flesh that goes 
to make an ideal show animal, yet under no circumstances 
to be overly fatted or fleshed to a condition of uneveness 
or roughness. 

This same careful selection must be carried out also in 
the boar and three sows under twelve months of age. This 
is really the hardest class to fill satisfactorily. First, 
for the reason that the young boar over six and under 
twelve months of age is passing through a crisis in his de- 
velopment; this being an age that almost invariably, if the 
boar is a vigorous one, finds him fretting and champing 
more or less when in sight of other animals. The sows, 
also of this age, are harder to properly develop and bring 
out in their best form, as they too are passing through a 
period of life when there is more or less restlessness and. 
excitement than when older. 

Some people greatly enjoy bringing out a pig herd, under 
six months of age, as there are often enticing prizes offered 
in this class, and it is a good way to show the class of pigs 
you are producing. While this class should also be as uni- 
form in type and conformation as the others, and should 
be well fitted in flesh, care should be taken that they are not 
pushed too hard and become over done, and more or less 
wrinkled in appearance. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. 

FITTING THE HERD FOR SHOW. 

We will now suppose that the herd has been selected 
along proper lines and we are ready to start the fitting 
process with a bunch of animals of the same type. The 
question now is how to fit these animals to the best advan- 
tage without over doing them, so they will show when the 
Fair season opens, in the best possible bloom. 

Always remember that "bloom" is a desirable thing in 
a show animal. When "in bloom" a hog is at its best and 
this "bloom" only lasts for a short time, and is as easily 
lost as the bloom of a ripe peach, hence the matter of fitting 
should commence in time and be carried on in a manner to 
have the animals "in bloom" when the Fair season opens. 

For convenience in handling and caring for them, the 
show animals should be kept by themselves and not allowed 
to roam with the general herd. The four boars being fitted 
for the different herds should be carefully prepared and put 
together in one lot where they can be fed and handled to- 
gether so that there will be no danger of their fighting 
should it be necessary tio drive them to or from the show 
building together. The aged sows, the senior and the 
junior yearlings, should also be fed and kept in one en- 
closure for best results during the Fair circuit, when it is 
necessary to exercise them mornings during the show sea- 
son. The over six months and under six months sows can. 
also be kept together for the same reasons. 

The yards or lots, where the animals are to be fitted 
during the next few months, should have an abundance of 
succulent pasture, either natural grasses or other green 
forage crops provided and each lot should have a water 
fountain that should be kept well supplied with pure clean 
water at all times. Of course ample shade should be pro- 
vided — either nattiral or artificial — and no dust should be 



98 Forty Years' Experiexce of a Practical Hoo Max. 

allowed to accumulate where these auimals lie in the shade. 
If possible, a cement bathing pool large enough and deep 
enough in the deepest part to practically cover them should 
be provided, in which the water should be changed every 
few days, always remembering to add a little disinfectant 
and crude oil to the water, preventing any skin troubles or 
lice. 

PROPER FEEDING OF HERD. 

When one starts out to fit a herd of show animals for the 
large Fair circuits, the matter of expense must, in a meas- 
ure be forgotten, as these animals should have the best 
feed possible to put them in just the right condition to 
show all that is in them. We have found, when fitting ani- 
mals for show, that we have to make some changes 
in our regular grain mixtures for best results. I have 
found nothing better in this case than to feed a nice rich 
slop feed, made up about as follows : 

For the older animals above one year I would use 
equal parts of finely ground corn meal and the best quality 
of white heavy middlings, with an addition of ten per cent 
old process oil meal, thoroughly mixed together before be- 
ing wet, and if sweet skimmed milk or that from the sep- 
arator is possible to be had at any reasonable price, the 
feed should be mixed with this and all feed in a sweet con- 
dition. If it is found impossible to get milk, add tankage 
to the oil meal (eight to ten per cent, oil meal and five per 
cent tankage), and the mixture of meal and middlings, and 
mix this with fresh water and feed it after it soaks a few 
hours — but never allow it to become sour. 

I think two feeds a day, even in the fitting of a show 
herd', is as good as three, generally; however, it would be 
proper and perhaps as well to give these animals a little 
soaked shelled corn that has soaked long enough to become 
soft, as a noon-day meal. Where this is done, the morning 
and evening feed can be fed a little earlier and later, re- 
spectively. 

For the younger herds of over six and under twelve 
months, as well as the herd under six months, I should 
certainly* urge the use of skimmed sweet milk for best re- 
sults. I have known showmen, while fitting young pigs, 



Fitting the Herd for Show. 99 

to feed whole milk fresh from the cow. This is entirely 
useless and, I think, is one of the surest ways of overdoing 
the pig and causing him to break down in the pasterns and 
it is also almost a certainty that pigs fed fresh warm 
whole milk will become more or less wrinkled, but skim 
milk is not so apt to cause this trouble, and this is especially 
true when well balanced with the ground feed. 

Always remember, however, that too much milk is worse 
than none. The proper amount is three pounds milk to one 
pound of grain; with this your ration is practically bal- 
anced or at least gives the best results. 

If any of the animals at any time during the fitting do 
not eat with as much relish as would seem best, there are 
many kinds of condiments that could be used to make the 
feed more palatable. A sufficient amount of brown sugar 
or black strap molasses to well sweeten the mixture, will 
make the feed much more palatable. This would be the 
case even when milk was used instead of water in mixing 
the feed. 

I would, by all means urge, while fitting these hogs for 
show, that a mixture of mineral matter mentioned in an- 
other part of this book be used. It may be well to mention 
here that this should be made up of ground limestone, with 
perhaps some slacked lime, together with ground phos- 
phate rock or any other material that would contain plenty 
of phosphate and the whole mixed with salt to make it 
more palatable. I urge the use of this material so that 
while fleshing these animals there would be no danger of 
breaking down tJie bone, as the mineral matter is essential 
for bone growth. 

If any of the younger animals in the show herd were in- 
clined to be a little weak in the feet or pasterns, I would 
buy one hundred pounds of finely ground bone meal or lione 
dust and mix it with the mineral matter or even add it in 
small quantities to the slop feed. 

^fueli care should be taken in fitting the show herd not to 
break them down, and as a help in this matter as well as 
in keeping them in better condition, it is necessary that the 
show herd be given some special exercise other than that 
which they will naturally take in their enclosure. By tak- 
ing the three older boars out each day and driving a half 



100 Forty Years' Experiexce of a Practical Hog Man. 

mile or more you will not only have them under perfect 
control, but will also have them in a condition to show at 
their best when driven in the show ring, and the same is 
true of the show sows and even the under a year herds. 

We have all noticed, while standing about a show ring 
and watching the animals come in from their pens, that 
many of them, while in good flesh, are not really in show 
condition, for the reason that they cannot walk with ease 
and grace but wabble around. A show animal should not 
be so heavily loaded with fat as not to be able to walk with 
ease and comfort. It is not always the amount of flesh that 
an animal is carrying that makes it show at its best, but 
the smoothness in which it is put on and the ease with which 
it is carried. 

It is my opinion that what is known as ''strong breeding 
condition"; i. e., flesh enough to round out every point 
without over loading, is the proper show condition. 

What I have said about the feed to be used in fitting the 
show herd, need not be considered as an absolute iron-clad 
rule. Any of the mixtures of grain, grasses, etc., that will 
come close to being a balanced ration is all that is neces- 
sary. I merely name these feeds as among what we have 
found to be the most satisfactory. The real object is to 
feed what will flesh them rapidly and not add too much fat, 
but more red meat or flesh. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE. 

OTHER THINGS NECESSARY BESIDES FEED. 

While fitting the herd for the show ring they should be 
handled daily by the feeder, by brushing them a little or 
scratching them and coaxing them to lie down where he 
can handle them about the legs and feet, sq that when you 
are ready to trim the toes and hoofs into nice shape they 
will not get excited, but will lie quiety and let you work 
over them as you wish. 

The foot and pastern of the show pig can be improved 
one hundred per cent, by proper trimming. When the pig 
is lying down, quietly take the foot in the left hand and with 
a very sharp knife trim the lower edges off the hoof, com- 
mencing well back and following around the entire hoof, 
shaping the toe up as close as possible to the fleshy part of 
the foot without injury. If the dewclaws are of unusual 
length these too can be shaped up at the bottom and pared 
down to proper shape. All this work should be done at odd 
times before starting out to the Fair. 

A nice brushing every day or two after sprinkling with 
disinfectant and crude oil is very essential, not only to 
make the show herd quiet and docile, but to improve the 
condition of the skin and hair. All this is a help in shed- 
ding the old coat. The earlier this is commenced in the 
preparation of fitting a show herd the better. Every ani- 
mal except the under six months pigs should shed off 
his or her old coat not later than the first of August, 
that the new coat may be nicely started before the 
Fair season opens. Generally all this will come along in 
due time if the animals are fed as above and are gaining 
in flesh constantly. If any of the herd should not be- 
gin to show an inclination to shed by the middle of June or 
the first of July, I would give them a wallow hole in which 
some clay has been jjlaced, if it is not naturally a clay 



102 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Max. 

soil, keeping this hole rather thick in mud, and adding 
some wood ashes. 

Many showmen are in the habit of clipping the hair of 
their older animals when they do not shed off in time. While 
this, in some instances, looks better than an extremely 
coarse coat of hair, it always shows every little nnevenness 
in the flesh of the animal. This practice is more common 
among the Poland-China showmen than any other breed 
I believe, yet I have seen some show animals come into the 
ring that were closely clipped, showing almost no hair and 
sprayed in oil, that really I think were not showing as well 
as though not clipped, for the reason that little uneven 
places could be'plainly seen along the back and sides, evi- 
dence to the Judge that they did not flesh as evenly as the\ 
should, and would in a way, militate against them. 

Before entering the show ring or as early after arriv- 
ing on the Fair grounds as possible, the herdsman should 
take a hand clipper and clip the long hairs off the edges 
of the ears and about the nose and jaw of the hogs and also 
clip the tail clean from the brush back to the tail head, giv- 
ing a much more finished appearance to the animal than- 
though this was neglected. The above suggestions prop- 
erly followed and the bringing of the herd to the shows in 
a thoroughly docile, well mannered condition, add much 
to their credit while in the show ring. It is pretty hard 
for a Judge to properly examine an aged boar or one even 
younger, if he is brought into the ring with four or five men, 
each bumping him around with a short hurdle — the boar 
certainly is not showing to the best advantage. 

DRESSING. 

A nice dressing to use after the hogs are fitted and in 
show condition, before entering the ring, is made as follows r 

Take a good quality of cotton seed oil, adding enough 
wood alcohol to thoroughly cut and make a nice thin easy 
running dressing. After the hog is thoroughly washed and 
his skin is clean apply with a, brush and rub it in 
thoroughly. 

One of the most detestable dressings that I have ever 
come in contact with as Judge at the great shows is made 
of oil and lamp black. The animals, as they come into the 



Other Things Necessary Besides Feed. 103 

show ring", are not only a mass of grease and lamp black, 
but the attendants are about as badly blacked up as the 
hogs, and before the Judge is half through he is also more 
or less greased up, I have known of cases where the Judge 
had to send his clothes to be cleaned each night or put on a 
clean ])air of overalls each day. All that is necessary as a 
dressing is something that will make the hair glossy and 
yet not be gummy. 

EXERCISE ON THE SHOW CIRCUIT. 

The good herdsman and care-taker does not lie in bed un- 
til late in the morning, but is up early and has his show ani- 
mals out on the grass somewhere about the Fair grounds, 
and drives them around for an hour until each animal is 
thoroughh' emptied out and has had proper exercise. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR. 

HANDLING SHOW HERD WHILE IN THE RING. 

The proper fitting and handling of the show herd before 
it starts out on the circuit, will prevent much trouble in 
handling the animals in the ring. 

With the herd properly trained, there is nothing with 
which to handle them compared with a buggy whip, in the 
hands of a man who has sense enough not to whip the hogs, 
but quietly touch them on either side of the head to place 
them where he wishes. As a matter of fact this has been my 
experience in the many years of handling show hogs. I 
never need a hurdle with our hogs. With some breeds 
it is absolutely necessary to have a hurdle in handling 
a mature boar even though he is supposed to be well 
mannered and docile, but there is no excuse in using a 
hurdle with a bunch of sows if they are half way prepared 
before starting on the circuit. When a hurdle must be 
used, let it be a light one and made so that the hog cannot 
see through it. Don't make it of narrow slats a few inches 
apart, but cover it with heavy material, or else make it of 
boards tightly matched so there can be no seeing through 
it. When in the ring with the herd or a single animal, 
show to the best possible advantage. The showman has 
this privilege. 

Be Careful About the Feeding While on the Show Circuit. 

Many exhibitors seem to think that when they start out 
on the show circuit they must stuff the animals with all the 
feed possible, not only during the time tliey are on the cars 
going to and from the shows but each day while on the 
grounds. It has been our experience that the man who 
follows this custom generally arrives home with his hogs 
much lighter in weight than when he started out, while if 
the hogs had been given only water to drink while enroute 
to the shows and fed lightly for the first day after arriving 



Handling the Show Herd While ix the Ring. 105 

and given plenty of exercise, they would wind up the cir 
cuit in much better condition than if they had been stuffed 
all the time. 

I have known an exhibitor to buy warm milk from some 
of the daiiwmen and feed his pigs all they could hold, 
though they had never had a drop at home while being 
fitted. This generally results in a case of scours with the 
pigs ''off feed" for several days and by the time they go 
into the ring they are badly gaunted up. Of course if the 
pigs have had this ration at home it should be continued. 
Avoid radical changes in the rations. 

TREATMENT OF SHOW HERD ON RETURN HOME 
FROM SHOWS. 

Many successful exhibitors, when they have finished the 
show circuit, won their laurels and arrived home safely with 
their herds, seem to think that the animals now need no 
further attention, except feed. This is a great mistake, 
and if these show animals are expected to go on and prove 
what they should be, desirable and regular breeders, they 
must be handled very carefully. 

The first thing I would advise on return from the shows, 
would be to quarantine the show herd on a portion of the 
farm or some other place where they would not come in 
contact with the home herd. They should be placed on 
good, green, succulent pasture, if possible, and if not pos- 
sible, should have some kind of green feed to take the place 
of pasture. They should be fed quite a little less than while 
on the show circuit, and no fat-making feed, and be made 
to take all the exercise possible, so that they may be re- 
duced in flesh somewhat — not by starving, but by lighter 
feeding and abundant exercise — and if they have not been 
too strongly fitted, they will soon be in prime condition to 
breed. 

The show herd should be kept in quarantine about three 
weeks, and if no symptoms of disease appear by that time, 
it would be safe to put them with the home herd. 

Now that we can procure a reliable hog cholera serum 
I would advise all hog men making tlie Fair circuits to give 
each show animal a large dose of serum (no virus) about 
a week before leaving home for the Fairs, unless they have 



106 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

positive knowledge that every animal in tlieir show herd 
has been properly and permanently immuned by the simul- 
taneous treatment, 

A large per cent of bran and oats mixed with a small 
amount of middlings and cornmeal is an excellent feed to 
use during the reducing period. They must have exercise 
and if necessary see that they get it by driving daily. This 
is very important and must not be overlooked. 

A part of the ration may consist of whole oats scattered 
freely in a clean place, as the oats themselves are an excel- 
lent feed, and they will get considerable exercise while 
eating them. 

I might say right here that with many exhibitors it is a 
custom to breed the show sows a month before starting out 
on the Fair circuit, and if successful in settling them, so 
much the better, even though the litter comes at an un- 
favorable time of the year. It simply keeps the animals 
breeding, and it is that much better for them. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE. 

A WORD TO THE EXHIBITOR AND FAIR 
MANAGER. 

• The wise exhibitor ox herdsman will so arrange his 
circuit that he will arrive on the Fair Grounds as early 
before the opening of the Fair as possible, that he may 
have his hogs well rested and in the pink of condition be- 
fore the show opens. Where one attends a Fair each 
week, this of course is sometimes a hard rule with which 
to comply, but many thinking Fair Managers today 
are so arranging their dates and days of show that the 
live stock that is to show the following week at a distant 
state is allowed to be released on Friday night- — which, by 
the way, is a custom that all Fairs and Expositions should 
follow. 

Many State Fairs have too many men among their man- 
agement who know nothing whatever of the needs of the 
live-stock exhibitor while on the circuit. They manage their 
show as though it were the only one the exhibitor was 
going to attend and seem to think that the exhibitor, be- 
cause he made an exhibition at their Fair, should be obliged 
to remain there until the last man is gone. They should 
always remember that without the live-stock exhibit their 
Fair would soon be a thing of the past, and for this reason 
should give the live stock exhibitor every encouragement 
and help possible. 

Necessity of Being Prepared to Show Pedigrees. 

Oftentimes in the under-six-months class or the class 
over six and under twelve months, there is such a wide 
range of sizes that one hesitates in comparing. Here is 
where every exhibitor should produce the certificates of 
registry, and if any of the animals have been purchased of 
others, the certificates of transfer, showing exact age of the 



lOS Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Mas. 

animals on exhibition. This would avoid any unpleasant- 
ness between exhibitors or between the exhibitor and the 
judge. 

It is pretty hard for an experienced judge to step into a 
ring of pigs showing in the under-six-months class and find 
most of them of proper size and development, and others 
showing by their general make-up that they are far be- 
yond six months old, even being old enough to show well 
developed tusks, which every man knows are not developed 
until after the pig is six months of age. The judge who 
knows his business, while not inclined to quarrel with the 
exhibitor over the age of his pigs, will quietly ignore them, 
not considering them eligible to the class. This, of course, 
generally causes the exhibitor to complain when he should 
be quietly informed that his pigs are out of their class 
owing to age, and unless he can prove by certificates of reg- 
istry, properly signed by the Eecord Association, he 
should not be allowed in the ring. For this reason I would 
urge every prospective showman to always start out fully, 
prepared for such emergencies. Many is the time that ] 
have asked the exhibitor, while acting as judge, the age of 
his animal; he generally has an answer ready, and when 
asked if he has his registry papers with him, he replies 
that he has them at home, but forgot to bring them, and 
after passing around the ring once or twice, I again ask 
the gentleman, ''What did you tell me the age of this ani- 
mal is!" and he would give an age entirely different. I 
have done this on purpose to find out if the man was telling 
the truth. You know it has been said that it takes an aw- 
fully smart man to be a liar. 

Again, where registry papers are not absolutely insisted 
upon, many exhibitors are inclined, when asked the age 
of the under-a-year animals, to give you the date of Sep- 
tember 1st to 3d, as their date of birth, and those in the 
under-six-months class from March 1st to 3d. This of 
course has to be taken by the judge as a fact, however much 
he may feel it is not correct. 

This matter of showing pigs of uncertain ages is some- 
what in disrepute. It simply puts the man that is doing 
business right, up against an almost impossible chance of 
winning, where older pigs than should be admitted to the 



A Word to the Exhibitor and Fair Manager. 109 

class are being shown. I know of no way to stop this ex- 
cept the rigid enforcement of showing certificates of reg- 
istry. 

One may say that the same rascality might be covered 
lip by the owner when sending his pedigree in for registra- 
tion giving a wrong birth date, showing the animal younger 
than it really was. When it comes to this proposition the 
fellow will have to be very smart or he will be tripped up 
sometime by having registered two litters from the same 
sow that were born too nearly at the same time. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX. 

JUDGING SWINE SHOWS. 

There are many good Judges; men who not only know 
the correct type and conformation of show animals of the 
various breeds, but are men above reproach and can 
always be relied on to be absolutely square and honest in 
their decisions. The matter of selecting the best three or 
five animals, as the rules in the premium list require, is 
no small task. 

The first thing the Judge must do when he steps into 
the arena is to forget all friends and know no man. He 
must judge the hogs only and let no personal feelings en- 
ter his mind. If his brother or son should be showing in 
the ring he should be a man of strong enough character to 
turn down their animals, if not worthy, just as quickly as 
though shown or owned by an entire stranger. 

The Judge should not attempt to pass on the animal 
unless he has in his mind a true picture of what the animal 
of that age and that breed should be. Of course no animal, 
even a show animal, is perfect. 

After carefully examining each animal of the class under 
view, and finally deciding which, in his opinion, is the best, 
let him pass this without further attention and consider 
which is the second best. It is usually much easier to find 
the first prize animal than the third, fourth or fifth, but 
after the judge compares points, conditions, general type 
and conformation, and has his mind made up, let him line 
these animals up as first, second, third, fourth and fifth as 
the case may be, for the clerk to take the entry number 
and write the proper names and the award in the book. 
Then he should by all means be ready to compare these 
animals in the presence of the bystanders, explaining why 
he gave this one first over that one and so on. It is sur- 
prising to a Judge sometimes to find what great satisfac- 



Judging Swixe Shows. Ill 

tioii it gives the exhibitor to be shown where his animal 
lacked in comparison with the one above him, and no Judge 
should act unless he is able to give the reason. 

AVhile disliking to speak of myself as a Judge, I may be 
pardoned in saying that I have acted as Judge at practic- 
ally every State Fair in the Union and I make it a practice 
to make this exphniation after each decision and many and 
many a time has the loser come to me and said: ''Mr. 
Love.ioy, I learned more today from what you have shown 
me about weak points or undesirable ones in hogs than I 
ever knew before, and I thank you, and I now know I was 
not entitled to higher honors." 

A Judge in a hot ring has many little annoyances; for 
instance there is the showman (and it is his right) who 
brings in an animal that possibly droops a little in the 
back, with possibly an inclination to sag too much, and 
while the Judge is trying to find this out, the showman is 
continually bumping the animal on the nose to keep its 
head down and its back up. It is also amusing often to 
find one of the exhibitors who is continually squatting be- 
side or in front of his animal and patting it, trying to 
attract the attention of the Judge to certain points that he 
thinks might be overlooked. Let me say to this kind of 
exhibitor that the Judge will find all the good points 
quickly; what the Judge is looking for is the weak ones, 
and if he knows his business he will find them. 

Eeally, the best showmen, who are not only good win- 
ners but good losers, say very little to the Judge unless 
asked a question, and this is as it should be, for the Judge 
knows that the whole responsibility is on his shoulders and 
he is willing to take this responsibility without, rather than 
with, the advice of the owner or showman. 

I always like to have the animal that I am judging walk 
off naturally and without an attendant. I think this quite 
important, as it will many times show up defects that an 
expert showman will completely hide from the Judge if 
the showman is allowed to show that animal all the time. 
Witli this idea in mind, T invariably stand where I can see 
the animals come into the ring from their pens. 

If you are fortunate enough while showing to win the 
blue or purple let that joy be confined in your heart ; if 



112 FoKTY Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

you are so unfortunate as to lose let that disappointment 
also be confined in your heart and try to appear a good 
loser. It really requires a ''good sport" to be a good 
showman, and especially to be a good loser. The Judge 
cannot in his decisions consider the desires or hopes of the 
exhibitor, but must at all times make the awards accord- 
ing to his judgTQent and not be influenced by the ringside. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN. 

SHIPPING CRATES. 

Shipping crates are probably sent out in a greater variety 
than almost any other article used in the swine breeding 
business. It is not always the fault of the shipper that ho 
cannot send a better crate or a nicer looking one, from the 
fact that crate material in mam- States is almost impossible 
to be had. At least tliis is the case in our vicinity. We 
have no hardwood lumber for sale in our county, neither 
do we have any old fashioned white pine. We do have 
southern pine that is so full of sap and knots that it is 
hardly worth while to use it, and if it is used it makes an ex- 
tremely heavy crate. 

Probably the best lumber from which to make shipping 
crates is poplar if it can be procured, being both light and 
strong. Following tliis comes a straight grained elm, used 
l)rincipally in a half inch thickness, with exceptions of bot- 
toms and corners. 

The matter of crating hogs, where there are many to ship, 
is an item of bother and labor, which many times can be 
lightened. We have a scale of sizes for crates. When we 
build we make a side ; then lay another side on top and build 
all the sides first. Then make all the bottoms, then the 
tops. If crowded for room, one can build twenty crates 
in this way and leave them knocked down and put them to- 
gether when needed. When in this form a crate can be put 
together in five minutes. Always have a few of each size? 
on hand for immediate use when they are wanted. It is- 
good rainy-day work. The average crate is made too low 
for comfort ; a crate should be high enough to allow a hog 
to sit on his hind quarters and stand in front, which raises 
his head some higher than when he stands on all four 
quarters. Herewith find a table of measurements for dif- 



114 Forty Years' Experience or a Practical Hog Man. 

ferent sized crates which will answer the purpose in ship- 
ping different sized pigs or hogs. 

Length Height Width 

3' 28" 14" 

3' 6" 30" 18" 

4' 30" 20" 

4' 6" 32" 22" 

5' 34" 22" 

6' 36" 24" 

Bottoms are made by using strips one inch thick and one 
and one-half inches wide. Lay them down the length of the 
crate and build the floor on them crossways. The sides are 
fastened by nailing to the under strip, which is flush with 
the floor. All standards are on the outside of crate to pre- 
vent the strips being pushed off if the animal presses 
against the side of the crate. Tops are made lengthwise 
with cross piece at front, middle, and one inch from back, 
so tail boards can be put in up and down; these are less 
liable to rub tail than when a hog is nailed in with strips 
across the crate as in front. Crates four and one-half feet 
long, and longer, should have center standard to strengthen 
the crate. Bred sows should have good roomy crates, 
especially in width. 

I believe that linn — sometimes called basswood — 
makes even a better crate than elm or poplar, but this 
is also hard to be found and as high in price as clear 
cork pine, so that one is almost compelled to use such 
material as can be found in his own vicinity. We have 
used a little half inch beechwood for the sides of crates 
for light pigs, which is fairly satisfactory but inclined 
to split when driving nails in it, unless previously 
softened by placing the ends in water. We once bought 
a dozen or so of the nicest shipping crates that it is pos- 
sible to imagine, made of electric welded woven wire 
•sides, end and top, so hinged and locked together that they 
made an ideal crate which could be quickly knocked down 
and returned in a collapsed form to the shipper. A plainly 
printed, substantial tag was fastened on each crate giving 
directions to the receiver of the animal, to please knock 
down and return. This was usually done, but occasionally 
a man receiving it, would either forget to return the crate 
or imagine that it belonged to him, and in this way the 



Shipping Crates. 115 

original number purchased by us, after a year or two, were 
all lost by not being returned. However, we decided to try 
them again and ordered a new lot, only to find that the 
party making them had gone out of business and he replied 
that he was unable to make any more. If his patent could 
be secured by some enterprising company and the crates 
made in large numbers, I think they would prove very 
profitable to the manufacturer, as they are the most satis- 
factory shipping crates that can be conceived of for hogs 
of all ages. 

There should be a manufacturing company somewhere 
that would get together all these conveniences for the equip- 
ment of the swine breeding farm. 

Preparing the Pig for Shipment in Crate. 

Some men think that when a pig is to be shipped some dis- 
tance he must be stuffed with an unusually large feed the 
morning he is to leave. This is a mistake. We had rather 
the pig would not be fed the morning he is to be shipped, 
as he will ship better and arrive at destination in better 
condition without his morning feed, unless it is a distance 
that will require more than two days. This may look 
strange to a beginner but an old breeder generally prefers 
to ship his pigs on an empty stomach. Particularly is this 
true when pigs are shipped during the hot months, as they 
will ship cooler by simply having what water they will drink 
and no feed. 

It is well to brush the pig and make him thoroughly clean 
before he is crated ; then he should be sprayed with a disin- 
fectant giving him a nice clean finish. A little dry clean 
bedding of some kind should be placed in the crate. If the 
pig is going a distance that will require four or five days 
to make the trip, then it is best to put a little feed in 
a small sack and tie it to the crate with instructions to feed 
a very little once daily. A five-cent tin basin wired in one 
corner of the crate on the floor will serve as a place to 
water and give a little feed if it is necessary. A notice 
should be placed on tlie crate, if it is during the summer 
months — "See that the crate is kept near an open door in 
the car, facing the way the train is going, that the pig may 
get the benefit of the breeze." Should the pig, by any 



116 FoKTY Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

reason, become over-heated, it should have attention at 
once, and instructions should be given the route agent to 
sprinkle the pig's nose with a little water and put some 
water on the floor of his crate so as to wet the pig under- 
neath, but under no consideration should cold water be 
thrown on the body of the pig when over-heated, as it means 
almost certain death. 

How to Treat the Pig on Arrival at the New Home. 
On receiving a pig that has been shipped a long distance, 
do not expect to see him come out of the crate looking like 
he was just from a bandbox, for naturally he will be gaunt, 
somewhat dirty and probably quite tired. Brush him off 
nicely, put him in a place by himself and give him a drink 
of fresh water, after which give him a very light feed, only 
a little at first, of a nicely mixed ration of rich slop. Then 
let him alonej until he is rested, or until the next feeding 
time comes, when you may give him a little more feed than 
you did the first time ; thus you will gradually bring him up 
to his full feed. 

Notice, on receiving the pig, if he seems constipated; if 
so give him two tablespoonfuls of Epsom Salts in his feed 
and let him take a little exercise where there is some grass. 

It is a good' thing when ordering a pig from a breeder, to 
ask how the pig has been fed, and if you can do so, continue 
about the same ration he has been getting. If you wish 
to change to a different system of feeding, do so very grad- 
ually and you will not be disappointed. If you should OA'er- 
feed the pig on the start everything will go wrong and you 
will be very much disappointed later. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT. 

WHAT A BREEDER OF PURE BRED HOGS 
SHOULD BE. 

Probably there is no business that requires character and 
intelligence in a man, to a g'reater degree, than the breeding 
of i3ure-bred stock of any kind. First, the young man when 
starting should know that he likes the business, and has 
made up his mind to follow it as a permanent business and 
to stick to it through thick and thin. This matter of stick- 
to-it-ive-ness is one of the principle elements a man should 
have. Next, he should be a man whose character is above 
reproach and absolutely honest. With these elements 
and a determination to succeed, he can build up a life 
business that is gratifying in every way. 

Then, he must select as good animals as possible to found 
his herd ; he must cull a goodly proportion from the pro- 
duce each year to sell as pork hogs, selling nothing but 
the better animals for breeding purposes. He must keep 
careful records of his breeding; he must be prompt in an- 
swering inquiries ; he must be truthful and reliable in every 
way, so that the purchaser may know when he receives the 
pedigree of a pure-bred animal that it is absolutely correct. 
Much, in fact, depends on the correctness of the pedigree, 
and that is dependent on the man who writes it, and for this 
reason he must be dependable in every respect. A man who 
is not dependal)le cannot build up a permanent business. 

The policy of the pure-bred stock breeder should be 
always to satisfy his customer, if possible. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE. 

MATTER OF PEDIGREES. 

This is a matter that does not greatly interest the farmer 
or feeder who is growing hogs simply for the open market, 
but must be understood, and thoroughly so, by the breeder 
of registered hogs who expects to sell a large portion of 
his produce to other breeders. A pedigree amounts to 
nothing unless it is a correct record of the different blood 
lines in the sire and dam taken from the established records 
for the breed. The pedigree in itself adds no value to the in- 
dividuality of the animal but it is a means of noting the 
various blood lines that has produced the animal. Neither 
is a pedigree of any value unless it is made by a man who 
would under no circumstance w^rite in other than the correct 
names of animals, with their herd book numbers. A 
man who would make a false pedigree would do anything 
else false that came to his mind and should not last long 
as a breeder of pure bred hogs of any breed. In other 
words the pedigree should be a guarantee that only such 
animals were used in producing the particular indi- 
vidual, as really were used. 

One who is well versed in the scientific principles of 
breeding pure bred animals, and familiar with the value 
of the different blood lines of the breed, can by study- 
ing the pedigree of the animal he purchases to head his 
herd, know practically what the results will be from 
using him. The more animals that appear in the pedi- 
gree that have made good as producers of superior 
stock, the better the pedigree and the more valuable it 
becomes as a guarantee for future quality in the herd; 
hence it is of great importance that the owner of a high 
class breeding herd, who wishes to continually improve 
the quality of his herd, study carefully the pedigree of any 
new animal that he wishes to introduce as the head. of 
his herd. It is a well known fact, however, that there are 



Matter of Pedigrees. 119 

few outstanding sires that are worthy of special note in 
any breed of pure bred hogs, and buyers of boars, when 
they order a boar for use, should not expect him to be ''one 
•in a thousand," unless he has investigated the animal's 
get and has proof of the fact that he is ''one in a thou- 
sand," and if such a boar is found he, the buyer, must 
expect to pay a very large price to secure him, for the 
owner can ill afford to part with this kind. 

Correspondence. 

The breeder of pure-bred hogs, after he is established, 
will have a large amount of daily correspondence to look 
after. He should make a rule to be prompt in his replies, 
answering all questions carefully, describing the annual he 
offers so that the man will not be disappointed, should he 
order. He should keep a carbon copy of each letter writ- 
ten. He should always keep a letter file of some kind, 
whereby he can keep each man's correspondence by itself. 
I think we have every letter received in thirty years, and 
pasted to it is a carbon copy of the reply. A card system 
should be kept with the name of each and every correspond- 
ent you do business with, and a follow-up card system would 
be well, as a follow-up letter often results in getting an 
order that would be overlooked otherwise. 

Every breeder should procure a typewriter and learn to 
use it, and' write all letters on this machine. It is rather 
hard for some men to write a nice hand with a pen, and 
there are often some words in the letter that are not plainly 
written and that puzzle the one receiving it ; besides, when 
writing a letter on the machine the copy can be made at the 
same time and filed with the original letter. 

System. 
System is a great thing, even in the hog business. Sys- 
tematic methods of keeping all records, filing all letters, 
keeping the cards, the breeding records, the feeding records, 
and everything connected with the business, is most im- 
portant. 



CHAPTER THIRTY. 
ADVERTISING. 

This chapter is written for the benefit of breeders who 
are selling pedigreed stock for breeding purposes, and I 
want them to consider the matter of advertising, one of the 
most important parts in the business. First is the breed- 
ing of the right kind of hogs to furnish breeders. The 
next thing is the proper care of them until they are 
ready to ship to the breeders. Then comes advertising 
which is as important as anything else, for without adver- 
tising of some kind there will be little or no business. 

I have mentioned in a previous chapter, that the matter 
of attending the County Fair circuits and showing was one 
way to commence a good line of advertising, and after a 
little experience at County Fairs, to take a step a little 
further up, and show at the State Fairs and large exposi- 
tions, or in other words increase the show ring practice 
as you increase your knowledge of the business, and ability 
to bring out the right qualities in animals. This show 
ring experience and mingling with hundreds of farmers 
and others, is a good way to start a permanent acquain- 
tance, and establish the business, and the orders taken 
while at the County Shows should be almost enough to 
dispose of the surplus for the first year or two, and when 
later the larger shows are made the sales should increase 
accordingly. 

The young breeder should at these shows keep a list of 
the names of all men with whom he becomes acquainted and 
who are interested in his breed, as well as a list of the men 
to whom he sold pigs. 

Besides the advertising made at the shows, the breeder 
should be a liberal advertiser, not only with his Breed 
Organ but with other leading reliable publications that go 
to the homes of the better farmers and breeders. While 



Advertising. 121- 

speaking along the lines of advertising I wish to impress 
npon the mind of the breeder, the necessity of his adver- 
tisements being permanent or continnons, not spasmodic. 
What is more assuring to a prospective purchaser than 
when looking through his various swine and live stock 
publications to find the name of some advertiser of his 
favorite breed, whose advertisement always appears in 
each weekly or monthly issue of his paper? This goes to 
show that the one who advertises this way is a permanent 
and constructive breeder, but if you find the advertisement 
of a breeder of your breed, who comes out with consider- 
able gush once or twice in some publication and then drops 
out, you are not inclined to send such an advertiser an 
order, and you may conclude that as he had dropped out 
his advertising, he may also have dropped out of the busi- 
ness. These are matters that I know from absolute exper- 
ience in many, many years of continuous advertising. We 
have never carried but one or two advertisements at one 
time, but for over thirty years our advertisement has never 
failed to appear continuously. While possibly not needing 
this advertisement some times to help dispose of our stock, 
we believe that as there are many new men entering the 
breeding arena as breeders, as well as farmers and feeders, 
it is the profitable thing for us to keep permanently and 
continuously before the people, and so we continue to ad- 
vertise even after manj^ many years. 

We often receive letters from parties, wlio say: "I have 
seen your ad for many years, etc.," which shows they under- 
stand we have been in business a long time from the fact 
that we are continuously appearing before the readers of 
good publications. 

Another good advertising plan is occasionally mailing 
out either a herd catalogue or a neat folder, giving a little 
history of the herd and the business done, also listing the 
names and numbers of the brood sows and herd boars, and 
a list of the litters farrowed that season. Some breeders 
also believe in publishing once or twice a year, a circular 
describing certain animals and their breeding, which they 
are offering for sale at that time. This is a good plan. 

Another matter that is (|uite imjiortant is the necessity 
of using a typewriter, and learning to use it properly, and 



122 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

never to fail to answer correspondence promptly and in an 
intelligent manner. It is not necessary to use all the ad- 
jectives that one can scrape together in describing what he 
has to offer the inquirer; better be a little modest along 
this line, simply stating the breeding and a true description 
of what you have to sell, with the price. 

The style and quality of stationery one uses is also one 
of the things that makes an impression on the inquirer. 
A neat, plain letter head, with as little printing on it as 
possible, and paper of good quality, speaks well for the 
breeder and impresses his correspondent with the belief 
that this man is not making any extra flourishes. A good 
judge of human nature can quite readily determine some- 
thing as to the character of a man by his stationery, and 
still more by the letter he writes. We have never found 
it necessary in our business to cover very much paper in 
replying to a letter. However, we often receive letters 
that contain quite a number of pages, which after reading 
and trying to digest, it is hard to really know just what 
tfhe man wants, further than that he seems to want an 
animal that will score upwards to 100 points, and then wants 
it for an extremely low price, with all the gaiarantees he 
can think of, added. 

There is another matter that is quite important in the 
way of advertising; always have your home grounds, 
hog quarters and other parts of the equipment of the hog 
establishment, as well as the hogs themselves, in shipshape 
for visitors. Do not feel obliged when a man suddenly 
appears on your farm to inspect your herd, to commence 
apologizing for the condition of things in general. Always 
have them so that a good impression may be made on the 
mind of a visitor, for he is taking all things in as he passes 
down the line, and 3^ou certainly wish to make a good and 
not a bad impression. 

First impressions are lasting and these should be as fav- 
orable as one can offer. 

When writing advertisements one should try and be as 
concise as possible, and not say too much, but say it in a 
way that will attract the attention of the reader. The 
writing of advertisements is an art. 



CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE. 

HOME CURED PRODUCTS OF THE HOG. 

I have often wondered why more farmers who grow pork 
for the market, do not take np the business of a farm 
packing plant on a small scale. I am sure pigs and hogs 
of different weights could be slaughtered on the farm; the 
products cured in the good old home way, and sold to local 
stores or markets for better prices and better profits than 
could be received for live weight. I feel certain that a 
farmer who would prepare for this work could profitably 
market a high class article of all pork sausage — something 
that cannot be found in a butcher shop. He should take 
great pains to make this as perfect as possible, just as he 
would make it for his own family. Put it up in attractive 
packages of one, two or five pounds each and furnish one 
or more of the best groceries in the nearby city. Or the 
farmer could send out slnall sample packages to the better 
class of citizens in the city and he soon would build up a 
retail trade that would astonish him and at prices much 
above anything sold by the butchers. 

Further than this, the hams could be home cured in a 
sweet pickle or mild cure and smoked as they should be, 
slightly, rather than be cured ''while you wait" with 
chemicals, and smoked with creosote dressing. There is no 
more delicate morsel than a farm-cured ham from a young 
pig of about 200 pounds. There is a great demand for such 
hams during the winter season, without any smoking what- 
ever. I personally like this kind of curing better than when 
smoked, but hams cured in this manner would not keep 
during tlie long summer months. The older hog, with the 
exception of the spare ribs, should be made into sausage. 
There would be little fat pork in light young hogs, but 
older ones could be finislicd for this purpose from which 
extra fine fat pork could be furnished, as well as a very 



124 Forty Years" Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

choice quality of liome made lard. Pickled pigs' feet, head- 
cheese and souse could be easily introduced to the fancy 
trade. 

The main thing is in starting this business and going at 
it with the determination to build up a business. I believe 
a farmer could hardly raise enough hogs and pigs in a year 
to supply the demand for the fancy pork products that he 
could put up, as the consumption of pork products is con 
stantly increasing from year to year. We must remember 
that every morning there are over three thousand new 
mouths to feed in America, and practically every one of 
them to eat the product of the American hog and enjoy it. 
Meat production increases wealth, and the grain products of 
the farm can all be utilized in the production of high-class 
pork. We have no animal of greater economic value than 
the i3ig; he matures quickly and brings ready returns. If 
there was no money in pork the farmers of the west would 
not grow eighty-five million dollars worth each year, to 
supply foreign nations, besides keeping enough at home to 
supply the demand of our own people. 

BONELESS PIGS' FEET. 

Cut the feet off with a sharp knife and a little saw, well 
above the ankle joint; wash in hot water and scrape thor- 
oughly and clean. Lay them in salt water over night to re- 
move all blood. Put on to cook with enough slightly salted 
cold water to cover and cook from three to five hours, until 
the bones loosen. Place the meat in a chopping bowl and 
chop medium fine. Strain the liquor in the pot in which the 
feet were boiled and season it with vinegar and pepper to 
taste. Then add the meat and cover with this juice to 
which should be added more hot water, as it will bear dilut- 
ing. "When cold turn out of the bowl and cut down in 
slices half an inch thick, 

PIGS' FEET SOUSE. 

Cut otf the horny part of the feet and toes ; scrape clean 
and wash thoroughly ; singe off any stray hairs. Place in a 
kettle with plenty of water, boil and skin. Pour otf the 
water and add fresh, and boil again until the bones will pull 
out easily, but do not pull out the bones but pack in a 
stone jar with pepper and salt sprinkled between each 



Home Cured Products or the Hog. 125 

layer; cover with good cider vinegar. When wanted for 
the table take out in sufficient quantities and put in a hot 
skillet; add more vinegar, salt and pepper if needed; hoil 
until thoroughly heated ; stir in a smooth thickening of flour 
and water, and boil until the flour is cooked. Serve hot 
for a nice breakfast dish. 

HEAD CHEESE. 
Having thoroughly cleaned the pig or hog head, split it 
in two ; take out the eyes and the brains ; thoroughly clean 
the ears ; throw scalding water over the head and ears and 
then scrape absolutely clean. When perfectly clean put in 
a kettle, with water to cover, and set over a quick fire, 
skimming as any skum arises. When boiled so the flesh 
leaves the bone, take the head from the water with a skim- 
mer, and place in a large wooden bowl or tray; then take 
out every particle of bone, chop the meat fine, season to 
taste with salt and pepper — a little powdered sage may be 
added — spread a cloth over the colander, put the meat in, 
fold the cloth closely over it, lay weight on it so that it 
will press every part of the surface equally. AVlien cold 
take the weight off; remove from the colander and place in 
a crock. Some add vinegar in the proportion of one pint 
to each gallon crock. 

FRIED SALT PORK. 

Cut in rather thin slices, freshen by letting stand an 
hour or two in cold water or milk and water. Roll in flour 
and fry until crisp. Drain off most of the grease from 
frying pan. Stir in, while hot, one or two tablespoons of 
flour, half a pint new milk, a little pepper and salt, if neces- 
sary. Let boil and pour into gravy dish. This makes a 
nice white gravy when properly made. 

BAKED HAM. 
Most ])ersons boil ham. It is much better baked, if 
baked right. Soak the whole ham for an hour in clear 
water and wipe it dry. Next spread it all over with thin 
batter, and put into a deep dish with sticks under it to keep 
it up out of the gravy. When it is fully done take off the 
skin and batter crusted upon the flesh side and set away to 
cool. It should bake from six to eight hours. After re- 
moving the skin, sprinkle over the ham two tablespoons of 



126 FOHTY YE.\1!S" EXI'EKIEME OK A PUACTUAL HoG MaN. 

sugar, some black pepper and rolled crackers. Put in a 
pan and return to oven to brown. Then stick cloves to the 
fat portion and dust with powdered cinnamon. 

BOILED HAM. 

Pour boiling water over the ham, and let it stand until 
cool enough to wash. Scrape clean; put in a thoroughly 
cleansed boiler with enough cold water to cover it; bring 
this to the boiling point and then place on the back of the 
stove and let simmer steadily for from six to seven hours 
or until very tender when pierced with a fork — be careful 
to keep the water at boiling point but do not allow to go 
much above. Turn the ham once or twice while in the 
water. When done put in baking dish to skin. Dip the 
hands in cold water and take the skin between the fingers 
and peel it as you would an orange. Set in a moderate oven 
placing the lean part of the ham downward. Sift over it 
rolled crackers and bake one hour. Or cover with the white 
of a raw egg and sprinkle sugar and finely pulverized bread 
crumbs over it. Place in the oven and brown. The baking 
brings out a quantity of fat leaving the meat much more 
delicate ; in warm weather it will keep in a dry, cool place 
for a long time. 

BONELESS BOILED HAM. 

Soak a well cured ham in tepid water over night, boil it 
until perfectly tender, putting it on in warm water. Take 
up in a wooden tray and let cool. Remove the bone care- 
fully, press the ham again into shape and return to the 
boiling liquor. Remove pot from fire and let ham remain 
until cold. Cut cross wise and serve cold. 

DELICIOUS FRIED HAM WITH EGGS. 

Slice ham and place in boiling water and cook until 
tender. Put in frying pan and brown ; then place on plat- 
ter. Fry some eggs by dripping gravy over them until 
done instead of turning them. Take up carefully and lay 
on slices of ham. 

HAM AND EGG LUNCH LOAF. 

Chop remnants of cold boiled ham ; add crushed crackers 
and from three to six eggs, according to the amount of 
meat. Bake in a round baking powder can and when cold 
it mav be sliced for the table. 



Home Cuued Products of the Hog. 127 

HAM BALLS. 

Take half a ('ii)j of bread crumbs and mix with two eggs 
well beaten. Chop fine some bits of cold boiled ham and 
mix all together. Make into balls and fry. 

HOW TO COOK PICKLED SIDE MEAT. 

Cut in slices to fry; parboil to freshen. Roll in flour 
and fry until cooked through. 

HOME-MADE SAUSAGE. 

It is the writer's job to make the Berkshire sausage at 
Love joy Farm and in doing this I take much of the choice 
meat that might be used for other purposes, often using the 
entire shoulder of the hog as well as all trimmings from 
the ham, sides, etc., using about equal proportions of the 
fat meat and lean, although sometimes making sausage 
largely all lean meat, yet I do not think this gives as good 
or as tender, well flavored sausage as where the fat and 
lean are of about equal proportions. We often use the 
tenderloin strips also in the sausage meat yet this is almost 
too delicious a dish, when fried by itself, to be given up by 
placing it in the sausage. After all meat is prepared for 
sausage it is run through a grinding chopper and made \ery 
fine. We also pulverize sage through this same meat 
grinder, then flavor the meat with salt, pepper and sage to 
taste. During cold weather it is kept in large crocks and 
cooked as needed. Where large quantities are made to be 
kept through the summer, it is cooked and placed in muslin 
sacks of about twelve inches in length and three or four 
inches in diameter, which are then dipped in hot lard until 
the cloth is well filled with the lard, then taken out and 
placed in a cool, dark cellar to be used as desired. 

CURING THE THICK WHITE FAT PORK. 

Where one wishes to put up the very thick fat pork for 
home use, he may cure this by what is known as dry salting. 
Take a large earthen jar, large enough to hold all one 
wishes to pack, put a layer of salt in the bottom of the jar, 
then pack the square cut pieces of pork snugly together and 
fill all spaces with salt, and a light covering over the top, 
then another layer of fat meat as before and continue this 
until all is packed and thickly covered over the top with 
salt. Set this in a cool place where rats or mice cannot 



128 Forty Years" Experience of a Practical Hog Max. 

get to it, and let it remain, nsing from it whenever tlte i oal 
fat pork is needed. 

HOME-MADE LARD. 

It is best for the farmer to make his own lard when pos- 
sible for the simple reason that it is cheaper than to sell 
his hogs on the market and then purchase lard; besides, 
when the housewife makes lard for home use she knows 
what she is using. Lard is almost a pure oil of a perma- 
nent composition, and moisture and air have little affect 
on it. Care should be taken to see that the lard is pure, 
such as the leaf lard, especially if it is to be kept for any 
length of time. Stone jars are the best vessels to keep the 
lard in after being rendered, and should always be kept in 
a cool, dry place. 

Besides the lard made from the leaf lard, there is much 
more of the animal fat that can be used for this purpose. 
All the trimmings of fat from the hams or shoulders, and 
all the gut fat may be rendered into a good quality of lard. 
Many persons who do not care for the fat pork, or at least 
as much of it as is furnished from the fat hog carcass, can 
use all that is not needed for fat pork for the manufacture 
of lard. 

A RECEIPT FOR CURING HAMS. 

Many years ago, at a show in New York State, a farmer 
won a $100.00 prize for the best home-cured ham. I have 
used his receipe ever since, and with great satisfaction. 

To 100 lbs. of meat use — 

8 lbs. clean pulverized rock salt. 

3 lbs. brown sugar. 

2. oz. of pulverized saltpetre. 

2. oz. of bicarbonate of soda (cooking soda). 

4 oz. red pepper. 



Home Cured Products of the Hog. 129 

After the hams are thoroughly cooled, rub in the above 
mixture well aud place them in a tub or box and let them 
remain in this container for one week. 

Make a brine of the above mixture, which should be 
boiled and strained through a cloth, and left till cold. Then 
after brushing the dry mixture from the hams, place them 
in a tub or large earthen jar or any receptacle that is big 
enough to hold them, and pour brine over them, so that 
they will be entirely covered. Place a floating cover over 
the hams, and on this cover a heavy weight so as to hold 
the hams under the brine, and leave them for one week, 
after which they can be taken out and smoked, if desired. 
Should you not wish to smoke these hams, they can be left 
in this l3rine and used as needed, until hot weather. 

The bacon and shoulders, back meat and fat meat can 
all be cured in like manner. 

This method of curing produces a very delicate and 
choice product and would be termed a ''mild cure" for 
hams and bacon. 

The manner of smoking can be done as preferred, but 
we use many of our hams without smoking at all, if used 
before hot weather comes on. 

Such portions of ham and shoulders as are not to be 
smoked may be left in the brine as mentioned heretofore 
until such time as insects might appear. If one wants to 
keep the smoked hams for any length of time they should 
be securely covered with canvas and either white washed 
or .packed in bran^or oats. The room where cured meats 
are kept should be as cool and as dark as possible. 



130 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



TREATMENT FOR HOG CHOLERA. 

During tlie last three years, i. e., 1911, 1912 and 1913, we 
have made it a practice on Lovejoy Farm to keep the entire 
herd immune by the simultaneous treatment. In the 
summer of 1913 we immuned 219 pigs at one time, using 
the simultaneous treatment, and the loss was about two 
per cent. This leads me to believe that our government 
authorities and others who have been instrumental in work- 
ing out the simultaneous serum treatment, have in it the 
long-sought-for specific treatment for the prevention of hog 
cholera. 

However, I am convinced that many have not fully un- 
derstood this method of hog cholera treatment, and as I. 
had been much attracted to and pleased with an article by 
Mr. J. L. Thatcher, I requested Mr. Thatcher to furnish 
a serum article for publication in this book, and take great 
pleasure in giving him full credit for the excellent service 
he has rendered swine breeders by his contribution to hog 
cholera literature. 

Mr, Thatcher's article follows in full, and is commended 
to the thoughtful attention of every reader of this book, 
with the hope that the serum treatment will be bet- 
ter understood ai^d more generally followed. And I firmly 
believe that if his suggestions are properly carried out, 
in time we can stamp out this dread disease: 



CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO. 

HOG CHOLERA AND ITS PREVENTION BY THE 

SERUM-SIMULTANEOUS METHOD OF 

TREATMENT. 

In accepting the invitation of the author of this 
book to write this chapter on the subject of. Hog 
Cholera and its Prevention by the Serum-simultaneous 
Method of Treatment I did so with the idea that I could 
talk as one breeder to another, and with the hope that what 
may be said may lead to a more active and persistent cam- 
paign against a disease that, judging by the results at- 
tained at lowana Farms, and elsewhere where the treat- 
ment has been given a fair and intelligent trial, can be 
prevented and ultimately wiped out. 

Aside from the purely elementary scientific state- 
ments that are made in order to give a clearer under- 
standing of the nature of hog cholera as a disease, of 
what is meant by immunity, and of the process followed 
in obtaining serum, the statements made and the con- 
clusions drawn are based entirely upon our work with 
registered swine. They show what we have accomplished 
and the policy we have permanently adopted in preventing 
the disease. The results have been very gratifying to us, 
and liave enabled us to prevent the enormous loss which 
almost inevitably follows when a hog cholera epidemic 
strikes a herd. If our experience, with the results attained 
and the conclusions drawn, can be of benefit to the swine 
breeders of the country, we are glad to make known what 
we have done, and to do our part towards stamping out a 
disease that is annually causing the loss of tens of millions 
of dollars throughout the United States. 

The prevention of hog cholera, and through its iireven- 



132 



Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



tion the control and ultimate eradication of the disease, 
is the most urgent and financially vital problem which con- 
fronts swine breeders and farmers throughout the entire 
country today. 

The table given below, based upon data taken from the 
Crop Eeporter, issued by the Department of Agriculture 
at Washington in February and April, 1913, will prove of 
interest in showing the distribution of swine throughout 
the United States, and giving the estimated number and 
value of hogs in the various sections, and the losses that 
have been sustained through disease. The ten leading hog- 
producing states are given in a separate grouping. 



o 



o 



North Atlantic 2,498,000 

South Atlantic 6,451,000 

North Cent. East of 

Mississippi River ..14,766,000 
North Cent. West of 

Mississippi River ..22,465,000 

South Central 12,830,000 

Far West 2,168,000 



$ 31,572,000.00 
48,356,000.00 



p 

o 
op 

O 



48,671 
694,751 



615,201.44 
5,210,632.50 



156,093,000.00 1,562,124 16,511,670.68 



249,451,000.00 
95,681,000.00 
21,956,000.00 



2,987,333 

1,311,473 

91,931 



33,159,396.30 

9,783,588.68 
931,261.03 



Total 61,178,000 $603,109,000.00 6,738,283 $66,439,470.38 



By ten leading States: 



o 

Cf<5 



Iowa 8,720,000 

Illinois 4,315,000 

Missouri 4,087,000 

Nebraska 3,798,000 

Indiana 3,709,000 

Ohio 3,399,000 

Kansas 2,611,000 

Texas 2,493,000 

Wisconsin 2,030,000 

Georgia 1,888,000 



104,640, 
45,308, 
34,740, 
43,297, 
36,348, 
36,709, 
27,154, 
20,941, 
23,548, 
13,405, 



000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 
000.00 



ffi 



1,395,200 
604,100 
715,225 
417,780 
556,350 
292,314 
313,320 
112,185 
56,840 
311,520 



$16,742 
6,343 
6,079 
4,752 
5,452 
3,156 
3,258 
942 
659 
2,211 



,000.00 
,050.00 
,412.50 
,692.00 
,230.00 
,991.20 
,528.00 
,354.00 
,344.00 
,790.00 



Hog Cholera and Its Prevention. 133 

Now when we consider that fully ninety percent of the 
hogs that die from disease die from hog cholera, we can 
readily gain some idea of the magnitude of the losses we 
are annually sustaining through this disease alone, and 
of the imperative need for a nation-wide campaign against 
this scourge in which not only breeders and farmers, but 
state and national authorities themselves shall join, fight- 
ing continuously and persistently with the end in view that 
in, say ten years, our entire country may be declared prac- 
tically cholera free. 

The financial losses sustained through the loss of pork 
hogs alone is, however, onl}^ one phase of the proposition. 

The progressive, business farmer no longer follows the 
practice of looking for his annual profits through the sale 
of grain crops. Rather he looks for his gain through the 
raising and sale of live stock. He needs the manure to 
maintain the fertility of his soil, and he is appreciative of 
the fact that a bushel of corn that sells for fifty cents on 
the market, will bring him one dollar when disposed of in 
the form of pork. 

Further this same farmer realizes, or is beginning to 
realize, the greater returns to be gained from the breeding 
and raising of pure-bred stock, and he is constantly endeav- 
oring to improve his herds by the introduction of pure-bred, 
registered animals. 

Yet it matters little how successful one may become as 
a breeder of improved hogs, or in the building up of his 
herd, as a feeder if he is to be at the mercy of hog cholera 
epidemics, and is constantly confronted by a condition that 
may in the space of a few days wipe out his entire herd, 
destroy utterly the results of years of work and study in 
selective breeding, and with it all inflict upon him a loss 
that in many cases reaches into the thousands of dollars. 

Even a casual consideration of the facts given above will 
show the absolute necessity of some definite, etfective, con- 
certed action which can and will stay the ravages of this 
disease and work to its final elimination. And particularly 
is this so when there is no longer any question that the 
trouble can be controlled. 

Up until within the past few years hog cholera has been 
one of the most stubborn diseases to respond to treatment. 



134 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

Althoug-li the whole pharmacopeia has been searched for a 
specific cure, no such cure has ever been discovered. Many 
so-called remedies have been boasted and boosted, but not 
one of them has ever proved efficacious when an emergency 
arose. Even proper feeding, proper housing and sanitary 
surroundings, though essential in maintaining animals in 
a healthy condition and rendering them more able to tight 
disease, have not proved a safeguard against cholera in- 
fection. And on the contrary, it might be added, that there 
is no condition or set of conditions, even improper care and 
feeding of hogs, that will bring on cholera infection without 
the presence of the living cholera germ. 

Hog cholera is characteristically a contagious disease and 
is caused by a living germ that develops and multiplies in 
the body of the animal and produces a poison fatal to life. 
Even though scientists have thus far, because of inadequate 
equipment, been unable to identify the particular bug that 
causes the havoc, the proof of its existence lies in the fact 
that if a few drops of blood from a cholera infected hog 
be injected into the system of one not so infected, the blood 
of the latter animal will become as thoroughy impregnated 
with cholera virus as was that of the former. This condi- 
tion, however, would not and could not obtain if the blood 
of the original animal did not contain a living, active organ- 
ism. An inactive or dead foreign substance injected into 
the blood of the second hog could not multiply or increase 
in quantity. 

The discovery in this instance, as in the cases of all con- 
tagious or infectious diseases, of the origin or cause of the 
disease marked the first steps toward the prevention and 
control of hog cholera, and thanks to the investigations and 
activities of our Department of Agriculture and our Ex- 
perimental Stations, we have, I am firmly convinced, an 
absolute method of preventing the disease and of bring- 
ing about its complete eradication. In my mind it is no 
longer a question of hoiv to prevent hog cholera, but rather 
is it one of how to provide the proper means under efficient 
supervision and regulation, and then to get the farmers 
to use them. 

It may have been noticed that no claim has been made 
that a cure for this disease has been discovered. Our hope 



Hog Cholera and Its Prbventiox. 135 

for its control lies in its prevention rather than in its cure, 
and' this brings us to the discussion of the serum method 
of treatment, which is distinctly preventive rather than 
curative in its nature. Success in fighting hog cholera lies 
in warding it off rather than in overcoming it after the 
animals have become diseased. 

To understand this method of procedure it is essential 
that one has in mind a clear idea of what is meant by im- 
munity. 

It is common knowledge that when a person has once 
recovered from an attack of certain contagious diseases 
he is thereafter less liable to respond to a second attack 
of those same diseases, and this holds with other animals 
as well as with human beings. Such individuals, whether 
persons or other animals, are said to be immune to those 
particular infections. 

What this immunity consists in is still under debate, I 
believe, but whatever its nature it is very clear that those 
animals possess a resisting power they did not possess pre- 
vious to the first attack of the disease. 

Scientists tell us that all disease-producing germs or bac- 
teria develop certain toxins or poisons which acting upon 
the body cells and nerve centers tend to cause death. At 
the same time that this invasion is going on nature, in her 
attempt to save life, begins the manufacture of a counter- 
acting substance, called anti-toxin, the function of which is 
the destruction of the living, death-producing microbes 
and thus stay or limit the XDrogress of the disease. There 
is, therefore, being carried on within the system of the 
infected animal a life and death struggle between these 
two opposing forces, the toxin and the anti-toxin, and the 
ultimate success of the one or the other means either the 
death or the recovery of the hog. In the large majority 
of cases, however, the body becomes so thoroughly impreg- 
nated with the poisonous germs that the anti-toxin cannot 
be developed rapidly enough and hence the animal dies. 
If, on the other hand, the animal has at the beginning an 
unusual or sufficient amount of native resisting power, or 
the infection be not of the more virulent nature, recovery 
takes place and thereafter the animal is considered, and is 
in reality, immune. 



136 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical, Hog Man. 

It is from the blood of these immune hogs that the serum 
is secured, which, when injected into the systems of other 
hogs, renders them likewise immune to the attacks of hog 
cholera. 

Ordinarily, however, the blood of these merely immune 
hogs contains only enough anti-toxin to protect the animals 
themselves against the disease, and thus the serum from 
the blood of such animals, in small doses, would not be ef- 
fective in immunizing other animals. This necessitates the 
production of what is known as a state of hyper-immuniz- 
ation in the hogs from which the serum is to be taken. 
Hyper-immunization is produced by giving to an already 
immune hog large doses of cholera virus, thus causing the 
blood of the animal to become so saturated with anti-toxin 
that small doses of serum from its blood may be success- 
fully used in immunizing other hogs. 

The method of preparing the serum may be briefly stated 
as follows: 

Either a hog is procured that has recovered from an 
attack of hog cholera, or more frequently, such an immune 
hog is artificially produced by injecting him with a small 
dose of virus obtained from an acute case of the disease, 
while at the same time he is injected with a protective dose 
of serum. Thus an immunity is established. Then one of 
two methods may be employed. Either several successively 
increasing doses of virus may be given at intervals of about 
a week apart, or one extraordinarily large dose may 
be given at one time. Either of these methods is effective, 
but that of giving the one large dose has the advantage in the 
point of time saved. From a week to ten days after the 
last injection of virus the animal is bled from the tail, about 
a pint of blood being drawn from a hog weighing one hun- 
dred pounds. The blood so drawn is allowed to clot and 
the clot is then strained under pressure, and the resulting 
serum is given sufficient of a five per cent solution of car- 
bolic acid so that ultimately it contains one-half of one per 
cent of carbolic acid, this being for the purpose of increas- 
ing its keeping qualities. 

This bleeding process is repeated at least twice at in- 
tervals a week apart, the whole being then mixed to give a 
uniformity of product. It should then be tested by prac- 



Hog Cholera axd Its Pkeventio.n. 137 

tical experiment to determine its potency before being sent 
ont and is then ready for use. If properly prepared, the 
sernm is nndoubtedl}^ effective in immnnizing against chol- 
era when used in doses of twenty to twenty-five CC for hogs 
weighing one hundred pounds, with doses of fifteen CC 
extra for each successive one lumdred pounds of live weight 
of hog. 

In warding off or preventing cholera by use of serum one 
of two methods may be employed. First, by the injection 
of serum alone under the skin or into the muscles of the 
animal. This is kno^vn as the simple serum method and 
gives only temporary immunity, say for about thirty days. 
The second method, known as the simultaneous method, 
consists in the injection of the same amount of serum, but 
at the same time a small amount of cholera virus, from one 
to two CC, according to the age and size of the animal, is 
also injected into the animal being treated. The second 
method produces what is known as active immunity, and 
is permanent in its character, lasting during the period of 
the animal's life. 

Which ever method is employed certain essentials must 
be absolutely insistjed upon if any degree of success is to 
follow the work; and particularly in the simultaneous 
method must this be so if disastrous results are to be 
avoided. 

These essentials are: First, the serum and virus used 
must he pure and potent; and second, the person treating 
the hogs must knoiv his business thoroughly — that is, he 
must he able to know hog cholera tvhen he sees it, he must 
know ivhich method to anploy under the given or existing 
conditions, and he must understand how to do the work. 
Failure in the observation of these requirements will ex- 
plain why there are still so many breeders and farmers 
who doubt or question the efficacy of the serum treatment 
and hesitate in its use. 

To secure the proper kind of serum and virus it is nec- 
essary that all serum and virus should be tested to deter- 
mine their potency before they are sent out for use, and 
this by expert supervision under state or federal control. 
Ample means and equipment for their manufacture should 
be provided so that wlien emergencies arise and the de- 



138 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Max. 

mancl for serum and vims becomes large and urgent tlie 
calls could be met and the product sent out would be pure 
and potent. This comes within the business of the state. 
To be sure there are numerous commercial plants manufac- 
turing serum and virus, but these likewise should be 
brought under state or national super\nsion to insure the 
excellence of their product. 

That the work of treating liogs should be done by one 
thoroughly acquainted with the disease and competent to 
give the treatment should go without saying, when one 
considers the importance of the undertaking and the mag- 
nitude of the losses that may result if failure follows. 

Which method of treatment should be used must be deter- 
mined by existing conditions. Where an outbreak has al- 
ready occurred and it is desired to treat the remaining ap- 
parently well animals the simple serum method should be 
employed, for it is very probable that many, if not all, of 
the animals so injected have become previously infected 
and the treatment will result in permanent or active im- 
munity. The use of cholera virus on hogs that have al- 
ready become infected or are otherwise diseased is simply 
adding to their troubles and will almost invariably result 
in the death of the animal. Further, the simple serum 
method only should he used in treating brood sows in preg- 
nancy, even though the treatment may have to be repeated 
to carry them on through farrowing and until their pigs 
are old enough to wean, and then both sows and pigs should 
be given the simultaneous treatment. 

The simultaneous method should always be used where 
permanent immunity is desired, and especially so whenever 
the animals are to be placed in lots or houses in which 
cholera outbreaks have previously occurred. 

As to the efficacy of the simultaneous treatment, where 
the serum and virus are right and are properly given, to 
produce immunity and thus permanently prevent the rav- 
ages of hog cholera there is in my mind absolutely no 
question. 

That it can be done has been proved time and time again. 
To be sure there are numerous cases where serum has been 
used with no apparent effect, and the simultaneous treat- 
ment has been given in order to gain permanent immunity, 



Hog Cholera and Its Prevextiox. 



139 



that results have been deadly and almost entire herds have 
been lost. But careful investigation, and thorough analysis 
of the serum used have proved, or would have proved, that 
where the simultaneous method was employed the simple 
serum treatment onlv should have been used, and in both 
cases the serum itself had lost part if not all of its potency. 
In May, 1911, with 172 head of hogs, young and old, on 
hand, cholera broke out in our herd. We immediately 
began the use of serum, injecting not only the hogs already 
sick with the disease, but also those that had been exposed. 
The effect of the treatment was to check the progress of 
the disease, and our losses were confined to those animals 
that had become badly infected before the serum was used. 
We came out of the siege with 127 animals, having lost 
forty-five— eight mature hogs and thirty-seven pigs. Com- 
pare these results with those of one of our neighbors whose 
herd was attacked by cholera shortly after our herd became 
infected. He had 165 animals, young and old, at the begin- 
ning, and he came out of his trouble with only five head 
remaining— two sows and three pigs. He did not believe 
in the serum treatment or in its virtue as a preventive. 
Note the comparative results and draw your own con- 
clusions. 

This outbreak of cholera in our own herd led us to adopt 
the policy of permanently immunizing every animal. Those 
that had recovered from the disease were already immune. 
Those that had never shown sickness, even though they had 
previously been given the simple serum, were subjected to 
the simultaneous treatment. This practice we rigidly ad- 
here to. All young pigs from immune parents, before being 
weaned, and all new stock brought into the herd, unless 
we are positive it has already been treated, are likewise 
given the simultaneous treatment. And in giving the treat- 
ment we have never lost a single animal as a result of such 
treatment, and up to the present time we have treated up- 
wards of 1,300 animals. In this, however, we have been 
singularly fortunate. Statistics show that ordinarily a loss 
of from two to five per cent of the animals treated may be 
looked for. But even this is insignificant when compared 
with losses that commonly follow an outbreak where the 
treatment is not emijloyed. 



140 Forty Years' Experiexce of a Practical Hog Max. 

Our method of procedure in giving the simultaneous 
treatment may explain in part the reason for our freedom 
from loss following its application. 

In beginning the work of immunizing our herd we gave 
each animal a regular dose of simple serum alone. This 
was given as a preparatory treatment. Fourteen (14) days 
later we gave each animal thus treated the double or simul- 
taneous treatment, using the virus and the regidar amount 
of serum. The preparatory treatment paved the way for 
the simultaneous treatment 14 days later, and rendered 
the animal better able to stand the latter treatment. 

In treating pigs tvhose parents are immune, we give the 
simultaneous treatment at once, and without the prepara- 
tory dose. We usually treat our pigs about two weeks be- 
fore we wean them. 

Hogs and pigs being treated should be given a clean, 
dry place to house in, plenty of cool, clean water, and all 
heating and heavy feeds should be discontinued for a couple 
of weeks. 

In case any animal, given the simultaneous treatment, is 
not doing well as a result of the treatment, give it another, 
a double dose of simple serum. This will help carry it 
through the fight. 

While we recognize that the giving of the above so-called 
preparatory dose of simple serum doubles the cost of im- 
munizing hogs and pigs, yet the total absence from loss 
of animals by such practice fully justifies, in our minds, 
the added expense thus incurred. And especially is this true 
where the treatment is being given to pure-bred, registered 
stock. 

Our observations in treating breeding stock have led us 
to adopt the following practice : We never give the simul- 
taneous treatment to bred sows, nor do we breed sows 
within two or three weeks after treating them. Further, 
boars just treated should not be put into immediate service. 
Time should be allowed for the immediate after effects of 
the treatment to wear off and the animals to regain their 
normal and active condition. 

The results of our experience in following out this prac- 
tice have removed from our minds all fear of cholera 
epidemics. We do not hesitate to move animals from one 



Hog Cholera and Its Prevention. 141 

house or lot to another even though we know that the latter 
may have contained hogs that had had cholera and are 
known to be thoroughly infected with cholera germs. And 
we have never had an animal become infected by such hand- 
ling. Further, we do not fear to introduce new hogs into 
our herd regardless of where they may come from. Dur- 
ing the entire show seasons of 1912 and 1913 none of our 
hogs were troubled with the disease, and after the fairs 
were over we did not hesitate to return our show animals 
immediately back into the lots with our other hogs. 

We have carried our tests still farther to prove the ef- 
ficacy of the simultaneous treatment in producing perma- 
nent or active immunity. This was done to demonstrate 
to the breeders and farmers of this locality how cholera 
epidemics could be prevented. 

In August, 1912, one of our young barrows was placed 
in a herd of hogs in which an outbreak of cholera had oc- 
curred. He remained there fifty-five days without contract- 
ing the disease and then was brought back and placed again 
among our own hogs. 

The second of January, 1913, we sent out three other 
barrows to be put among hogs that were dying from 
cholera. These three barrows remained among those sick 
hogs for more than six weeks, eating and sleeping with 
them, but not one of the three became infected or showed 
any ill effects from the rigid test under which they had been 
placed. 

Further, at the Live Stock Exposition held in Chicago 
in 1912 the writer purchased six choice gilts to be shipped 
us and placed in our breeding herd. Knowing the in- 
fected condition of the Union Stock Yards, it was 
stipulated that those gilts should be given the simultane- 
ous treatment before shipment. Through oversight on the 
part of the man left in charge of the animals they were 
not given the treatment, and were shipped immediately 
after the close of the Exposition and were placed at once 
among the other animals of our herd which numbered at 
that time something over 240 hogs and pigs. Only a very 
few days elapsed after their arrival before those gilts 
showed distinct evidence of cholera infection. Three of 
the animals had become so badlv infected that it was im- 



142 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

possi])le to save tliem. The others we were fortunate in 
pulling through by a liberal injection of serum. The im- 
portant point in connection with this incident is this: 
Though all of those six gilts had the cholera, and three of 
them died from the disease, yet not one of the 240 irmmune 
animals among ivhich they were placed, and with which 
they had been eating and sleeping, became infected, or have 
we seen any evidence or trace of cholera among our animals 
since, and this tvas over a year ago. 

Such tests as these are our warrant for the conclusions 
we have reached that hog cholera can be prevented, and 
by its prevention be completely eradicated. And the results 
we have attained are being repeated by numerous other 
breeders who have adopted the system of simultaneously 
treating their animals and have given the method fair and 
intelligent handling. 

With us the permanent immunizing of our hogs is a busi- 
ness proposition pure and simple. The cost is strictly an 
investment in the way of the purchase of protection that 
will insure against losses that might reach into the thou- 
sands of dollars if we were not so protected. 

An important point which should be mentioned is the 
possibility of carrying, or the transmission of, cholera in- 
fection from herds, in which the simultaneous method of 
treatment is employed, to herds which are not immune. 
For the past year and a half we have shipped hogs and pigs 
to every section of the United States, and we have as yet to 
learn of the first instance where any infection has been 
carried from our herd to other herds, even though those 
herds had not been given the simultaneous treatment. And 
further, we have as yet to hear of the first case where herds 
in our own locality have become infected because of our 
practice of employing the simultaneous treatment to im- 
munize our animals. 

It is advisable, however, that care should be taken where 
hogs are being shipped from herds in which the simultane- 
ous method is used, and especially so when they are being 
sent into sections where the animals are not immune. Ani- 
mals just treated should be held several weeks before ship- 
ment, and in all cases they should be thoroughly disinfect- 
ed before being sent out. Upon being received by the pur- 



Hog Cholera and Its Prevention'. 143 

chaser they should be held in quarantine for about thirty 
days. Observation of the above precautions should remove 
all possibility of trouble. 

Whether or not every breeder of hogs in the United 
States should adopt the policy of simultaneously treating 
his animals, and thus establishing and maintaining a perma- 
nent immune herd, is for each breeder himself to deter- 
mine. Situated as we are, in the very center of the great 
swine producing section of the country, where hog cholera 
outbreaks are constantly occurring, and hog cholera germs 
are with us practically all of the time, this method of treat- 
ment is our only salvation, and affords the only means by 
which we can check and prevent the disease. For breeders, 
who live in sections of the country where the disease 
seldom occurs, and who are not bringing in stock from 
cholera infested districts, the need for immediate action is 
not so imperative. But those breeders who do not adopt the 
practice of permanently immunizing their herds, and follow 
this up by likewise immunizing their young stock as it 
comes along each year, should be ever on the alert, and 
when an out-break of cholera does occur in their locality 
they should at once get in touch with their state. authorities, 
and active and persistent steps be taken to check the prog- 
ress of the disease. 

Unfortunately, many of our states have not as yet pro- 
vided ample facilities for the production of proper serum 
and virus to meet the demand when hog cholera becomes 
epidemic. Under these circumstances breeders are forced 
to depend upon commercial concerns for their supplies. 

It is in helping the breeder to get pure and potent serum 
and virus that the state and federal authorities can be of 
greatest assistance. Every plant manufacturing these 
supplies should be under constant state or federal super- 
vision, and every bottle of serum and virus sent out should 
bear the stamp of the government inspector. This would 
in ei'i'ect i)]acc all serum and virus on a recognized standard 
basis as to their purity and potency, and would insure to 
the farmer and breeder the quality of the article they were 
getting. Then steps should be taken by the state author- 
ities to see that the serum and virus are administered bv 



144 PouTY Years' ExpekieiNce of a Practical Hog Man. 

men who know tlieir business and have license to do the 
work. 

While the simultaneous method of treatment affords a 
means of checking and eliminating hog cholera, in districts 
or sections of the country where it has become prevelant, 
every precaution should be taken to prevent its being car- 
ried into other sections or states not so infected. 

A law should be passed making it a misdemeanor to sell 
a bunch of sick hogs. A law should be passed requiring 
the railroad companies to disinfect each stock car after it 
has taken a load of hogs to market, and every public stock 
yard should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected at stated 
intervals. Further, a law is needed, and should be enacted 
by the federal government, requiring a certificate of health 
for a hog before he can be shipped from one state to an- 
other. 

These are precautionary measures which are needed and 
which can and will do much towards preventing the spread 
ing of the disease. 



CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE. 

COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE. 
Worms. 
This question of worms in pigs is one of greater im- 
portance than many breeders and farmers realize. The 
presence of worms in the stomach is not only a hindrance to 
thrift and growth, but if neglected, becomes a very danger- 
ous matter, as the worms multiply very rapidly and are 
a constant drain on the vitality of the pig. Often they be- 
come so numerous in good sized shotes that they form 
almost a solid mass in the intestines, which results in 
emaciation of the pig and finally death. It is a question 
my mind if more pigs do not die from stomach worms dur- 
ing the fall and winter months than from cholera. 

It should be the practice of every farmer and also of 
every breeder of pure-bred hogs to feed something through- 
out the life of the pig as a preventive or a destroyer of 
worms. There are many medicated salts on the market, 
most of them good, and these preparations have proven, 
with us at least, successful in either preventing worms 
entirely or keeping the trouble down so much that we 
have never had any difficulty with worms. Even when 
feeding something of this kind, however, one will occa- 
sionally see the passing of worms from the pigs. Any 
worm powder that contains the proper amount of Santonin 
is good, and where the use of medicated salts is not quite 
sufficient, let the owner at once get a prescription from a 
Veterinarian which will clean them out. Young hogs that 
are badly infected witli stomach worms will have a very^ 
unthrifty appearance; the coat will be dry and ' 'staring ";; 
the head rather drooping as in cholera; the back arched:; 
the pig coughing more or less, and becoming more emac- 
iated every day, with little appetite. 

Another species of worms that bother young hogs and pigs 
is what is known as thread worms, which form in bunches 



146 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

or large quantities in the throat and often about the kings, 
causing a severe cough and much emaciation. These can 
usually be readily cleaned out by giving a couple of table- 
spoons of turpentine to each three hundred pounds of 
live weight, in the slop every day for three days, then skip- 
I)ing a day or two and using it again for three days. 

It must be remembered that when you are doctoring a 
pig for worms with medicine of any kind it should be given 
on an empty stomach, or in other words after the pig has 
been kept from feed about eighteen hours, otherwise the 
turpentine or worm medicine would have little or no effect. 

These species of worms are the only two with which I 
have ever had any experience during our many years of 
breeding pigs, and they never caused me any trouble what- 
ever, as we are always on the alert for worm s>Tnptoms. 

The eye of the feeder is one of the great things in the 
hog business. The man who feeds the pigs should take in- 
terest enough in his work to carefully note the condition of 
each animal daily, and if there is ever so small a change in 
the animal, by way of being a little "off feed", he must at 
once find out what the trouble is, whether it is an over feed 
from the day before, or a little indisposition from condi- 
tions which, unless promptly attended to, might lead to 
serious trouble. The old adage that a ''Stitch in time 
saves nine" was never more true than in the care of swine. 

WHY YOUNG PIGS LOSE THEIR TAILS. 

One often notices when looking over a number of litters, 
especially of Spring pigs that were farrowed during 
the cold months of February and March, that a number of 
them have lost their tails. This condition is caused wholly 
by neglecting to provide dry beds for the sow and litter. 
I do not mean by this that an occasional change of bedding, 
once every week or two would prevent it, but that the bed 
of the young nursing litter must be absolutely dry at all 
times, and to make it such it should be changed at least 
every other day. Otherwise the bed will become damp and 
the mother and litter will heat it so that it soon commences 
to steam, and if you should put your hand on the straw you 
will find it hot and wet. This will surely cause their little 
tails to shrivel and in a week or so drop off. 



Common Diseases of Swine. 147 

If you notice a pig among your litter of youngsters that 
shows a little crease or crack around the tail within an inch 
or a half inch of the body, while the rest of the tail seems 
dry and dead, you may make up your mind that it will 
be a bobbed tail pig in a mighty short time. If the trouble 
has not gone too far, it may be overcome by cleaning the 
tail where the crack appears with peroxide of hydrogen, 
which disinfects and purifies the sore parts, and if this is 
applied two or three times daily, and afterward the place 
rubbed with carbolated vaseline, if the case is not too bad, 
the tail may be saved. Of course the matter of bobbed 
tail pigs "cuts little ice" where the hogs are being raised 
for the pork market, but the loss of the tail greatly disfig- 
ures an otherwise outstanding show animal. While the 
aA^erage Judge would not turn down an animal in the show 
ring for lack of a good tail and nice switch or brush, he 
would very much prefer that the disfigurement was not 
there. 

THUMPS IN VERY YOUNG PIGS. 

Thumps in very young pigs often occur where litters 
are farrowed in the colder months of the Spring or Winter. 
While there is no trouble in saving the litter if properly 
handled, there is danger of the young litter becoming too fat, 
particularly through the shoulders and front half of the 
body. This is caused by their not taking proper exercise, 
and receiving too great a flow of rich milk from the mother. 
In this case they always become extremely fat, especially 
about the heart and vital organs of the body, and so thicken 
up that it is almost impossible for the little fellows to 
breathe even while hnng quietly in the nest, and when this 
stage becomes apparent it means almost sure death to the 
]ngs if they are forced to take exercise; hence it is ex- 
tremely important that if a litter is farrowed when it is 
cold and they are inclined to stay in the nest all day, they 
must be made to hustle out and take exercise enough to 
keep them from getting too fat. 

This condition will be very quickly noticed by an observ- . 
ing man who looks after the sow and litter. 



148 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical, Hog Man. 

If the SOW is a good milker there is all the more danger. 
In this case it wonld be well to feed the sow, for two or three 
weeks, on a ration that would not produce so much milk. 
This would be a great help in keeping down the trouble, 
but the pigs should be made to take plenty of exercise 
daily before any such condition appears. 

There are several ways of compelling this exercise.- One 
is to take the litter some distance from the sleeping place 
or nest and put them on the ground and let them work their 
way back. It makes no difference how far this distance is, 
if you are sure they will get back to the nest. If this cus- 
tom is followed daily you will lose no pigs from so-called 
thumps. 

Another plan is to take the pigs out of the nest and get 
after them with a broom and if they will not run away from 
you, force them to do so, by pushing them along. 

Any system is all right that will compel lots of exercise. 

ANOTHER KIND OF "THUMPS"— PLEURA- 
PNEUMONIA. 

There is another trouble one often runs up against 
when he walks out among his pigs in the fall, or in fact at 
almost any time. He finds a half -grown animal, or even a 
mature one, breathing short and fast with a perceptible 
jerk in the flank and back of the heart along the shoulders. 
This is a pretty sure symptom of serious trouble, and is 
generally an unfailing sign of what is known as Swine 
Plague, or what would be called, in the human race, Pneu- 
monia. This is a dangerous disease and is one of the "so- 
called" varieties of hog cholera and is really more danger- 
ous. There is little that can be done with hogs in this con- 
dition. They should be given a warm dry place to sleep, 
thoroughly rubbed with some strong heating liniment, that 
is penetrating, all along the sides ; back of the elbow ; be- 
tween the fore legs; all about the vital organs; then, if 
in a shivering condition, cover them with blankets or 
something to keep them warm, and keep them where no 
draft or cold air can strike them. It would be well, in a 
severe case, to consult the family physician or a good Vet- 
erinarian with a view of giving them some internal treat- 
ment. The animals will appear very gaunt and ])rnbably 



CoMMOx Diseases of Swixe. 149 

refuse to eat. If this is the ease there is not much hope. 
Exercise in this case is always fatal. 

SORE MOUTHS IN YOUNG PIGS. 

Some breeders and farmers often have trouble with sore 
moutlis among- their pigs. Tliere are two kinds of sore 
mouth tliat we have had experience with — neither of which 
need cause any trouble* whatever. The more common cases 
are caused by the pigs fighting each other while nursing 
and with their little sharp tusks (which are usually black), 
they strike each other on the sides of the face and jowl. 
This trouble can be stopped at once by taking the pig, when 
it is three or four days old, and nipping off these little tusks 
with a very small pair of pliers and washing the sore patt 
of the face with a solution of any good coal tar dip. 

This trouble could be avoided if one was careful to note, 
while the litter was sucking, whether or not there was any 
inclination for the little fellows to fight each other. 

CANKER SORE MOUTH. 

Canker sore mouth is very dangerous, and unless treated 
at once, a hard thing to cure ; but what little we have had 
in our herd has been stopped in a day or two by using a 
soft cloth, wet in a solution of good dip (made quite strong) 
and thoroughly washing the mouth of the pig affected. If 
this is done daily, or even every two or three days, for three 
or four times, it will absolutely cure canker sore mouth — or 
at least it has done so in all cases we have had. If treat- 
ment is not commenced within a short time after the cankers 
are formed, the teeth will drop out and gums slough off 
and the pig die from the trouble. 

Canker sore mouth, I am informed, results from the con- 
tamination with germs often found even in the soil ; if 
there has been no other way of the disease being com- 
municated, the ground should l)e thoroughly wet with a 
strong disinfectant. The sow's udder should also be thor- 
oughly washed with disinfectant and the trough as well, 
and no further trouble is likely to occur. 

SORE FEET. 
It is not often that pigs are troubled with sore feet, yet 
sometimes, where they are kept and fed on frozen ground, 



150 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

the feet become sore and sensitive, which causes the pig to 
walk in a very peculiar manner. This is more often the 
case where hogs are very heavy and are obliged to walk 
on rough, hard or frozen ground. There are occasionally 
cases where sores break out around the hoof and between 
the toes. This is what might be called "Foul in the Foot", 
but is not considered contagious, being only a local trouble 
which irritates the part between the toes. Sometimes this 
is caused by being obliged to walk about a yard that is filled 
with cinders; these get between the toes and cause irrita- 
tion. If such a yard is being used it would be well to cover 
the place over with sand and wet it thoroughly with a disin- 
fectant. 

If an animal becomes very lame wash the place two or 
three times daily with Nitrate of Potassium — Salt Petre — 
and this will cool the irritated parts and relieve the trouble. 
Should proud flesh appear use Chloride of Zinc, one dram 
in a pint of water, once or twice daily. Keep the pigs in a 
dry place and feed them well. Proud flesh may be known 
by its appearance, which is bluish in color and spongy to the 
touch. This may be removed by an application of Ter- 
chloride of Antimony, which may be put on with a feather. 
This will usually remove proud flesh after which the above 
treatment will heal the sores. 

STERILITY. 

Grenerally speaking, there is not much trouble in the 
swine breeding business along this line, unless it be among 
highly fitted show animals, which have been forced 
by stimulating feed to a condition of flesh that is ab- 
normal. Where this is the case, the animal becomes so 
plethoric from being highly fed, that sometimes the tubes 
connected with the organs of generation are blocked up. 
There are also other causes, such as disordered ovaries; a 
morbid condition of the uterus ; or hardening of the neck of 
the uterus. In a pig, on account of not being able to make 
an examination, it is difficult to find the cause and, if found, 
it would be difficult to remove. 

If the animal is kept in only good growing condition, 
avoiding its getting too fat, there will seldom be any 
trouble. If the sow takes on fat verj^ easily, and will not 
breed, give her two ounces of Epsom Salts, dissolved in 



Common Diseases of Swine. 151 

half a pint of cold water; follow this with ten grains of 
Iodide of Potassium twice a day, in her feed, for two weeks. 
By this treatment one may succeed in absorbing the ma- 
terials which have blocked up some of the tubes connected 
with the organs of generation. On the other hand, if an 
animal is very thin and in a weak, run-down condition, and 
fails to breed, give her good feed — all she will eat — and 
with this twenty to forty drops, according to size of ani- 
mal, of Tincture of Chloride of Iron, twice a day in the feed. 

RHEUMATISM. 

Rheumatism is very common among pigs; more particu- 
larly among quite young ones. It is hard to say what 
causes rheumatism in the pigs, as we often find it under 
various conditions — whether the animals are well kept 
or not. 

Symptoms — Lameness in one or more of the legs ; swell- 
ing of the hock joints or the fetlock joint. When these 
muscles are affected it may be a form of inflamma- 
tory rheumatism, which may cause some fever and sick- 
ness. In this case the animal would be stiff and refuse to 
eat; its breath will come quite short and fast; muzzle, or 
nose, will be dry, and if the animal is made to move about 
it will show signs of pain. Often it will shift from one leg 
to another. 

Treatment — The animal should be kept in a warm, com- 
fortable place and if it is in good flesh give it a dose of 
from one to two ounces Epsom Salts every three or four 
days, or two to three drops of Croton Oil, which is a useful 
medicine in rheumatism. 

For pigs, two or three months old, give half the quantity. 
It is well to rub the swollen joints with an equal mixture 
of turpentine and sweet oil. 

INFLAMMATION OF UDDER. 

While this is not considered a disease, at times it causes 
some trouble — but not often. 

Causes — Usually this is caused by an over accumulation 
of milk in the udder which is the result of overfeeding the 
sow on rich feed immediately after farrowing, or caused by 
the litter being too few in number or too weak to take all 



152 Forty Years' Experie>-ce of a Practical Hog Max. 

the milk that the sow furnishes, resulting in a feverish 
condition and soreness of the udder. 

Symptoms — Udder becomes swollen and rather hard, and 
is hot to the touch. The skin will become red and very ten- 
der. When this is the case the sow usually shows consider- 
able fever, loss of appetite and constipation. 

Treatment — If possible, draw off the milk, although this 
is a hard matter to do as the inflammation causes the milk 
to coagulate. If the pigs are living allow them to nurse, 
yet this is bad for the pigs, as that usually starts the ail- 
ment in new born pigs known as white scours. Bathe the 
udder carefully with hot water, then use a half ounce of 
Acetate of Lead, with two ounces of Tincture of Arnica in 
one quart of warm water. This bathing should be done 
three times a day and the lotion applied after each bath. 
Give the sow two ounces Epsom Salts, followed with ten 
grains of Nitrate of Potassium, in a little water three times 
a day. If the udder becomes very hard or caked, rub with 
one dram of Lodine and one ounce of Vaseline. Apply 
this about twice a week until the udder becomes soft and 
pliable. 

SORE TEATS. 

Once in a while, while nursing, the teats will become in- 
flamed and swollen and of course are very sore. The sow 
will be inclined to refuse to let the pigs touch her. This 
only makes matters worse, on account of the accumulation 
of milk in the udder, and the result is a fever as above men- 
tioned. 

Cause — This trouble is generally caused by the udder and 
teats dragging through the dirt or mud which irritates the 
skin making it crack and become sore. It is also caused by 
the sow having traveled through poisonous weeds in the 
pasture while wet with dew or rain. 

Treatment — Bathe three times a day with half an ounce 
Acetate of Lead in a quart of warm water. Then bathe with 
two ounces Glycerine and Tannic Acid — twenty grains in 
four ounces of water well shaken. 

SKIN DISEASES. 

About the only skin disease that one is liable to have oc- 
casion to treat, is mange. This is caused by a parasite 



CoMMox Diseases ok Swine. 153 

tliat burrows under the scurf skin and causes great irrita- 
tion, practically destroying tliat part of the skin, so that a 
little scab forms. This, on account of great itching, causes 
the animal to rub and this disease soon becomes general 
throughout the herd. The scabs formed are rubbed and 
soon become a raw sore. The first appearance will be found 
on the thin parts of the skin ; back of the ears ; inside the 
thighs or upon the back. The parasite may lie readily seen 
with a pocket magnifying glass. 

When first discovered remove all unaffected pigs to build- 
ings or grounds where affected pigs have not been. 

Treatment — First wash the pig all over with soap-suds, 
and then rub in dry sulphur. The sulphur comiug in contact 
with the sores forms a compound that is poisonous to the 
parasite. Another sure remedy is to steep two ounces of 
stavesacre seeds in one and one-half quarts of water. 
Keep water nearly boiling for an hour, then add enough 
water to make up the quantity originally placed in the 
vessel. This solution, rubbed well into the skin, will kill 
both the jiarasite and its eggs. This may be repeated if 
necessary. Animals that are occasionally dipped witli any 
of the coal tar preparations will never have mange. Pre- 
vention is better than cure. This is one reason'why pigs 
should be either dipped or thoroughly wet with some of the 
foregoing dips as a preventive to any skin trouble. 



CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR. 



CASTRATING. 



This is a necessary matter that must be looked after, 
not only by the farmer who breeds for the general market, 
but by the breeder of pure-bred hogs as well. The best 
time for this operation is during the early period of the 
pig's life and at weaning time for best results, and not left 
until the pig is six or seven months of age, or older. It is 
not so apt to be neglected by the farmer or feeder of market 
hogs, as by the breeder of pure-breds. It is astonishing, 
however, in either case, to see the great improvement after 
early castration, compared to a pig of the same litter left 
uncastrated. Some of the greatest barrows ever shown at 
the International in Chicago were selected, not so much for 
their superior merit at weaning time, but because they 
were not quite up to the standard to carry on and sell as 
breeders ; yet after this operation their development so far 
outstripped the litter mates that there was no comparison. 
On the other hand, how often we see — especially at shows 
where a large amount of money is put up for prizes — a 
barrow that really is nothing more nor less than a ''stag," 
and evidently kept by the breeder for a long time, thinking 
he could be sold for a breeder, but not developing just right, 
he was finally castrated and fitted for a barrow show. The 
expert barrow Judge, however, soon discovers this fact and 
avoids much further attention to him in the ring. 

PRACTICAL METHOD OF CASTRATING. 

Wash the parts clean with pure water to which has been 
added any good coal tar dip, making it rather strong, and 
with a sharp knife make an incision over both testicles as 
small as possible, to remoye the testicles, and low down, so 
as to drain thoroughly. Press the testicles through the 
openings, drawing the cords well out, and scrape apart 
rather than cut them oif. 



Castrastixg axd Spaying. 155 

Then, with a soft cloth, cover the parts with full strength 
coal tar dip, and if the operation has been perfectly clean, 
the pijo: will be entirely well in a week or so, without any 
bad after-effects. 

SPAYING. 

This is an operation on the female and is not often prac- 
ticed. In fact I seldom hear of a bunch of sows being 
spayed. It is an operation that requires much more care 
and knowledge, than castration of males. 

Many years ago the writer had a. few young gilts spayed 
by a very able veterinarian. The process was that of 
laying the young gilt on an incline table and after 
being securely, fastened, the operator, with a sharp lance, 
made an opening on the left side forward and below 
the hip joint, between that and the first rib, where the in- 
strument was inserted and the ovaries removed and the 
wound dressed and opening closed up, but many of the ani- 
mals so treated seemed to have little swellings or abscesses 
form where the opening was made, and the trouble and 
expense did not seem to justify any further attempts along 
this line. It is supposed, however, that a bunch of sows 
so operated on will feed better and make larger gains the 
same as barrows, because they are more quiet and do not 
have periods of excitement and restlessness, but as I said 
above, it is not generally practiced. Spaying should be per- 
formed while pigs are young and before they come to an 
age of heat periods. 



156 



Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



GESTA.TION TABLE 

Showing the date when a sow is cine to farrow, counting 
sixteen weeks from the day when she was served. Find 
the date when the sow was served and the date immedi- 
ately to the right is the date wlien she is due. For instance, 
if the sow was served February 1, she is due May 24, if 
served May 24, she is due September 13. 



Feb. 


May 1 Sept. 


Jan. 


April 


Aug. 


Dec. 

5 


Mar. 


Ju!y 


Nov. 


Feb. 


June 

18 


Oct. 

8 


Jan. 


1 


24 


13 


3 


25 


15 


27 


17 


6 


26 


28 


2 


25 


14 


4 


26 


16 


6 


28 


18 


7 


27 


19 


9 


29 


3 


26 


15 


5 


27 


17 


7 


29 


19 


8 


28 


20 


10 


30 


4 


27 


16 


6 


28 


18 


8 


30 


20 


9 


Mar. 
1 


21 


11 


31 


5 


28 


17 


7 


29 


19 


9 


31 


21 


10 


2 


22 


12 


Feb. 
1 


6 


29 


18 


8 


30 


20 


10 


April 
1 


22 


11 


3 


23 


13 


2 


7 


30 


19 


9 


May 
1 


21 


11 


2 


23 


12 


4 


24 


14 


3 


8 


31 


20 


10 


2 


22 


12 


3 


24 


13 


5 


25 


15 


4 


9 


June 

1 


21 


11 


3 


23 


13 


4 


25 


14 


6 


26 


16 


5 


10 


2 


22 


12 


4 


24 


14 


5 


26 


15 


7 


27 


17 


6 


11 


3 


23 


13 


5 


25 


15 


6 


27 


16 


8 


28 


18 


7 


12 


4 


24 


14 


6 


26 


16 


7 


28 


17 


9 


29 


19 


8 


13 


5 


25 


15 


7 


27 


17 


8 


29 


18 


10 


30 


20 


9 


14 


6 


26 


16 


8 


28 


18 


9 


30 


19 


11 


July 
1 


21 


10 


15 


7 


27 


17 


9 


29 


19 


10 


31 


20 


12 


2 


22 


11 


16 


8 


28 


18 


10 


30 


20 


11 


Aug. 
1 


21 


13 


3 


23 


12 


17 


9 


29 


19 


11 


31 


21 


12 


2 


22 


14 


4 


24 


13 


18 


10 


30 


20 


12 


Sept. 
1 


22 


13 


3 


23 


15 


5 


25 


14 


19 


11 


Uct. 

1 


21 


13 


2 


23 


14 


4 


24 


16 


6 


26 


15 


20 


12 


2 


22 


14 


3 


24 


15 


5 


25 


17 


7 


27 


16 


21 


13 


3 


23 


15 


4 


25 


16 


6 


26 


18 


8 


28 


17 


22 


14 


4 


24 


16 


5 


26 


17 


7 


27 


19 


9 


29 


18 


23 


15 


5 


25 


17 


6 


27 


18 


8 


28 


20 


10 


30 


19 


24 


16 


6 


26 


18 


7 


28 


19 


9 


29 


21 


11 


31 


20 


25 


17 


7 


27 


19 


8 


29 


20 


10 


30 


22 


12 


Nov. 
1 


21 


26 


18 


8 


28 


20 


9 


30 


21 


11 


Dec. 
1 


23 


13 


2 


22 


27 


19 


9 


29 


21 


10 


31 


22 


12 


2 


24 


14 


3 


23 


28 


20 


10 


30 


22 


11 


an. 
1 


23 


13 


3 


25 


15 


4 


24 




21 


11 


31 


23 


12 


2 


24 


14 


4 


26 


16 


5 


25 



CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE. 
LOVEJOYISMS. 

To the farmer who wishes to purchase a boar for use as a producer 
of good feeding hogs for the market, I would urge that he do not wait 
too long, as many do, but that he buy the boar early, while the herd 
from which it is to come is not all culled, so that he may get a better 
choice and the pig may become accustomed to his new home long before 
he is to be used. 



After the pigs are two or three days old, they with the sow, can be 
removed to an individual house or pen, without much danger of their 
being overlaid by the sow, unless she is deaf, which is sometimes the 
case, but such a sow should be sold for pork and not kept in the breed- 
ing herd. 



Occasionally one finds a sow that is very nervous after farrowing. 
She will get up and lie down again frequently, and may crush one or 
more of the newly farrowed pigs. It is well to give such a sow a small 
feed, mostly of bran with a little middlings or cornmeal, as this will 
often quiet her. If she is extremely nervous and insists on getting up 
and down, pour one teaspoonful of laudanum into her ear. 



You will notice an illustration of a farrowing box, which we have 
used for many years, and consider it one of the best appliances in the 
equipment of a farrowing house, for while the sow can easily lie down 
on either her* right or left side, she cannot turn around or lie down 
on the pigs, as they are protected by the sides of the farrowing box 
which do not extend clear to the floor, but have a space of some nine 
inches in which the youngsters can run out into the outer part of the 
box at either side or end. We found in the last Spring farrowing of 
over two hundred pigs, that only three were injured in the farrowing 
box. In a large herd three or four of these boxes would be one of the 
best investments that could be made. 



One thing must not be overlooked, and that is plenty of clean fresh 
water. If it can be had at will, so much the better; if it cannot, it 
should at least be given once or twice daily, for the hog needs a drink 
of water as much as any other animal or human being. I have known 
pigs to walk directly from a wet feed of nice rich slop to a drinking 
fountain and take a good drink of water, as though they had been fed 



158 



Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



on dry fed. I really think that the majority of breeders and farmers 
overlook this matter of letting the hogs have plenty of water to drink. 



During this period of the early life of the litter the sow and litter 
should take plenty of exercise for the necessary good of the pigs, for 
they must exercise considerably during each day, or they will become 
fat around the heart and die with what is known as "Thumps," which 
is nothing more or less than fatty degeneration of the heart, which they 
will certainly have unless they are exercised daily in some way. 



A man must have "horse sense" if he is a successful hog man, and 
he must use it at all times. 




It is a well-known fact that quality counts in any market and with 
any kind of stock or other produce of the farm. There are farmers who 
have fed live stock for the market all their lives, and yet never 
come anywhere near topping the market. They sell at a low price 
because they pay little attention to the matter of breeding a market 
type of good feeders, either in hogs, cattle or sheep. 



I have done this on purpose to find out if the man was telling the 
truth. You know it has been said that it takes an awfully smart man 
to be a liar. 



This matter of showing pigs of uncertain ages is somewhat in dis- 
repute. It simply puts the man that is doing business right, up against 
an almost impossible chance of winning, where older pigs than should be 
admitted to the class are being shown. I know of no way to stop this, 
except the rigid enforcement of showing certificates of registry. 



LOVEJOYISMS. 



159 



Generally speaking, the sire should be a little more on the compact 
order than the sow. By this I do not mean a chunky, short, thick boar, 
but one showing full development at every point, and of a strictly mas- 
culine type. There is nothing so unsatisfactory as to have the head of 
a herd show a feminine appearance. The boar particularly should be 
of the proper type of the breed he represents. 



Careful attention should be given to the blood lines of the sire. He 
should be what is known as an intensive breeder — one able to repro- 
duce himself and improve the get. Such a sire is more often than 
otherwise found in a strongly "line-bred" boar, carrying the blood of 
closely related ancestors. If of proper conformation he can be relied 
upon to prove a good sire. 




Personally, I would never think of introducing a herd boar into my 
herd of brood sows that did not carry much of the blood represented 
by the sows, and yet it is not uncommon for a breeder to receive letters 
from prospective buyers, insisting that a boar be sent that is in no way 
related on either side to the sows to which he is to be bred. 



Many exhibitors seem to think that when they start out on the show 
circuit they must stuff the animals with all the feed possible, not only 
during the time they are on the cars going to and from the shows, but 
each day while on the grounds. It has been our experience that the man 
who follows this custom, generally arrives home with his hogs much 
lighter in weight than when he started out; while if the hogs had been 
given only water to drink enroute to the shows and fed lightly for 
the first day after arriving, and given plenty of exercise, they would 
wind up the circuit in much better condition than if they had been 
stuffed all the time. 



Avoid radical changes in the rations. 



160 FoKTY Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

I strongly urge the show ring as a means, not only of education for 
the breeder, but of building up a substantial business. 



The reason I suggest that the beginner commence his show career at 
the County Fairs, is from the fact that I passed through all these little 
troubles when I was a great many years younger than I am now, and I 
know what the difficulties are for a beginner. It is hardly expected that 
a young breeder who has never followed the practice of showing, and 
who has probably not spent a vei'y large amount of money in the foun- 
dation of his herd, win at State Fairs and Expositions where only few 
great show animals can get in the money. 



Never will I forget the time way back in the TO's, when I made my 
first show at a State Fair. It was at the Illinois State Fair, when it 
went around on wheels, and that year was located at Freeport. I had 
only been in the business a year; knew nothing of what it required to 
even have a chance of getting into the money; but nevertheless I was 
full of enthusiasm and overflowing with ignorance. I fitted up a portion 
of a herd which I thought was "some pigs,'" but found, much to my 
profit eventually, that they were only ordinary. Starting out with much 
pride and having already figured the amount of money I would bring 
home by adding up the amounts in the premium lists, I found after the 
Fair was over, that I was really a wiser man and richer in knowledge 
but poorer financially, than when I arrived on the grounds, beaming with 
confidence. 



The main thing is in starting this business and going at it with the 
determination to build up a business. I believe a farmer could hardly 
raise enough hogs and pigs in a year to supply the demand for the fancy 
pork products that he could put up, as the consumption of pork products 
is constantly increasing from year to year. 



We must remember that every morning there are over three thou- 
sand new mouths to feed in America, and practically every one of them 
to eat the product of the American hog and enjoy it. Meat production 
increases wealth, and the grain products of the farm can all be utilized 
in the production of high-class pork. 



We have no animal of greater economic value than the pig; he ma- 
tures quickly and brings ready returns. If there was no money in pork, 
the farmers of the West would not grow eighty,-five million dollars worth 
each year, to supply foreign nations, besides keeping enough at home 
to supply the demand of our own people. 

The author of this book has not undertaken to write a thesis on the 
swine breeding business, nor to give the history of the various breeds, 
but having commenced the business of swine breeding when quite a 
young man and following it for practically forty years, he has been 



LOVBJOYISMS. 161 

requested to write this book, along practical lines of breeding, feeding, 
care and selling of hogs, both for the market and for breeding purposes. 



Starting with a pair of young pigs way back in the dim distance, the 
business of breeding hogs was commenced by the writer. Knowing 
nothing whatever in the beginning, the only way anything has been 
learned has been by actual experience during all these years, finding 
out each day something that must be learned. This experience has been 
very costly, but that learned at the greatest expense one never forgets. 



It is a small matter in what way water is furnished daily to every hog 
and pig on the farm, but it is of much importance that it be furnished in 
some way. 



The eye of the feeder is one of the great things in the hog business. 
The man who feeds the pigs should take interest enough in his work to 
carefully note the condition of each animal daily, and if there is ever 
so small a change in the animal, by way of being a little "off feed," he 
must at once find out what the trouble is, whether it is an over feed 
from the day before, or a little indisposition from conditions which, un- 
less promptly attended to, might lead to serious trouble. The old adage 
that "A stitch in time saves nine" was never more true than in the case 
of swine. 



The policy of the pure-bred stock breeder should be always to satisfy 
his customer, is possible. 



There should be a manufacturing company somewhere that would get 
together all these conveniences for the equipment of the swine breeding 
farm. 



Every breeder should procure a typewriter and learn to use it, and 
write all letters on this machine. It is rather hard for some men to write 
a nice hand with a pen, and there are often some words in the letter that 
are not plainly written and that puzzle the one receiving it, besides, when 
writing a letter on the machine the copy can be made at the same time 
and filed with the original letter. 



However, I believe when the crate is to be used, the animals to be bred 
should be turned together for a short time for the purpose of getting 
acquainted, and the teasing is no doubt a great benefit, but the practice 
of forcing a sow into a breeding crate, then bringing the boar to her, 
without any teasing, does not always work out as expected and sometimes 
creates much trouble. 



It is a well known fact that the nutriment in feed for swine, or its 
value as a flesh producer, is not increased by cooking; but it is also a 
well known fact that during the cold months, at least in the northern 
States, much benefit is derived in feeding Fall pigs and others not well 
on to maturity, a warm feed rather than one mixed with cold, icy 
water. 



162 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

As charcoal is a very desirable supplemental food for pigs, it is well 
to know how to make a good article and cheaply, particularly in the 
cornbelt where there are more or less cobs after corn shelling season. 



The kind of steam generator or hot water heater is immaterial so 
long as it does the work and furnishes enough hot water for mixing the 
feed for the herd, but I must insist that, for young pigs before and just 
after weaning, warm feed is necessary for best results and is of equal 
value for young shotes. 



In selecting a herd of brood sows, it is my judgment that the more 
uniform in type, size and conformation the sows are, the better, and I 
would even go so far, if I were selecting but a few, to have them all 
from one or two litters, if possible, rather than take the risk of getting 
such a great variety of types by the selection of individuals from dif- 
ferent families, and I would have them from reasonably large litters. 



Judgment must be used in matters of this kind, as it is the little 
things that are often most important and have much to do with the 
success or failure of swine breeding. 



Nothing looks so bad as a little pig in the winter time doubled up with 
cold and its hair pointing to its ears, but where the pigs can be prop- 
erly taken care of and continue to grow and look smooth and thrifty, 
then it is a different matter and they are fully as valuable as the pigs 
farrowed in the spring, because they come to the proper breeding age 
the fall following their birth, and there is nothing more desirable or 
that sells better than fall litters that can be bred a year from birth. 



I am practically sure that much of our so-called hog cholera in the 
early months of the fall or late summer, is nothing more than a condi- 
tion brought about by overfeeding green corn when it is in the roast- 
ing ear stage. 



Pigs that have been fed possibly on scant feed during the summer, 
and that are in rather thin condition, would, if given too much green 
corn in its early stage, eat much more than they could properly digest, 
bringing about a condition that leaves the pigs ready to take any dis- 
ease that comes along. If they are troubled with worms at this time, 
and the worms are not expelled, they will die about as fast as if they 
had the cholera. 



This growing and feeding of hogs for market should become more 
common on the average farm. Too many farmers have the idea that the 
danger of cholera is too great to make any attempt at the growing of 
hogs for market, which is all wrong. There is nothing better than to 
be able to ship to market at one time, a carload of choicely finished hogs, 
which will always bring in a large amount of money with seemingly 
little expense. 



LOVEJOYISMS. 163 

There are many such instances on record, which emphasize the value 
of the right kind of a pedigree as well as "some hog" which is certainly 
very necessary. 

It is also of great importance that the same critical judgment be 
used in the selection of the brood sows on which the herd is founded, 
that the future may be an assured success. 



Besides the matter of keeping all sleeping pens and feeding places 
clean, it is well for the breeder to look carefully after the premises 
in general by having a regular clean-up at least twice a year — buildings, 
yards, fences, etc. This would not only give a good appearance, but 
would be a benefit along sanitary lines. There are many good disinfect- 
ants, and some that should be used weekly, by spraying the troughs, feed- 
ing utensils, mixing barrels, etc., as well as the feeding floors and sleep- 
ing places. Feed yards should be well cleaned up and kept free from 
cobs and other accumulations. These are small matters, yet quite im- 
portant, and should be carefully looked after. 



The selection of the show herd requires a knowledge of what it takes, 
when well fitted, to win. One should commence months in advance 
of the show to make his selections, first making up his mind whether or 
not he wishes to fill all the various classes listed in the premium lists, 
which are now so made up, that the same animals can show throughout 
the season, without being required to carry along other animals of va- 
rious ages besides those first selected to fill the classes. 



Some people greatly enjoy bringing out a pig herd, under six months 
of age, as there are often enticing prizes offered in this class, and it is 
a good way to show the class of pigs you are producing. While this 
class should also be as uniform in type and conformation as the others, 
and should be well fitted in flesh, care should be taken that they are 
not pushed too hard and become overdone, and more or less wrinkled 
in appearance. 



We will now suppose that the herd has been selected along the above 
lines, and we are ready to start the fitting process with a bunch of ani- 
mals of the same type. The question now is how to fit these animals 
to the best advantage without overdoing them, so they will show when 
the Fair season opens, in the best possible bloom. 



Always remember however, that too much milk is worse than none. 
The proper amount is three pounds of milk to one pound of grain. With 
this your ration is practically balanced, or at least gives the best results 
I would by all means urge, while fitting these hogs for show, that a 
mixture of mineral matter mentioned in another part of this book be 
used. 



164 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

Much care should be taken in fitting the show herd not to break them 
down, and as a help in this matter as well as in keeping them in better 
condition, it is necessary that the show herd be given some special 
exercise other than that which they will naturally take in their en- 
closure. 



It is my opinion that what is known as "strong breeding condition," 
i. e., flesh enough to round out every point without overloading, is the 
proper show condition. 



What I have said about the feed to be used in fitting the show herd, 
need not be considered as an absolute, iron-clad rule. Any of the mix- 
tures of grain, grasses, etc., that will come close to being a balanced 
ration, is all that is necessary. I merely name these feeds as among 
what we have found to be the most satisfactory. The real object is to 
feed what will flesh them rapidly and not add too much fat, but more 
red meat or flesh. 



The foot and pastern of the show pig can be improved one hundred 
per cent by proper trimming. 



The good herdsman and care-taker does not lie in bed until late in 
the morning, but is up and has his show animals out on the grass some- 
where about the Fair Grounds. 



Many successful exhibitors, when they have finished the show circuit, 
won their laurels and arrived home safely with their herds, seem to 
think that the animals now need no further attention, except feed. This 
is a great mistake, and if these show animals are expected to go on 
and prove what they should be, desirable and regular breeders, they 
must be handled very carefully. 



A large per cent of bran and oats mixed with a small amount of mid- 
dlings and cornmeal is an excellent feed to use during the reducing 
period. They must have exercise, and if necessary, see that they get 
it by driving daily. This is very important and must not be overlooked. 



Weaning time is a very critical period in the life of the pig. We will 
suppose that the pig has been fed in addition to what he received from 
the mother, so that he is well started, and without changing the rations 
he has had, he should be fed at least twice daily all that he will eat up 
clean. It is a bad custom to feed any animal more than it will eat and 
clean up thoroughly. The pig should have, in addition to what it is 
fed in concentrated ration, at all times of the year, the run of a good 
fresh pasture of green feed. The different varieties are treated in an- 
other chapter. 



LovEJOYisjis. . 165 

In addition to the feeding and watering, there are other little atten- 
tions that must not be overlooked. 

Pigs carried along in this way and fed and attended to in the above 
manner, should make rapid gi'owth and development, and if desired to 
be kept for breeders, this same treatment can be carried on during the 
first year. If it is planned to put them on an early market, and at a 
weight of from 200 to 250 pounds, the ration can be somewhat changed 
for the last sixty days by using more corn and a little less of the other 
kinds of feed. 



It is a well-known fact that the first one hundred pounds of growth of 
any hog is made at a much less expense than any other subsequent one 
hundred pounds. So it is economy to feed all the good feed that can 
be properly digested from birth to maturity. 



There are feeders, and always have been, and probably always will 
be, who pay little attention to their pigs during the growing period of 
the first six months, believing that if they are turned out into any old 
pasture and can get water to drink, that they can grow a frame and 
some size at little or no cost. 



This may be satisfactory to that class of men, but it has always been 
our plan and belief that the mother's milk fat of the little pig should 
never be lost, but be increased by liberal and proper rations during its 
entire life. 



Some men think that when a pig is to be shipped some distance he 
must be stuffed with an unusually large feed the morning he is to leave. 
This is a mistake. 



On receiving a pig that has been shipped a long distance, do not 
expect to see him come out of the crate looking like he was just from 
a bandbox, for naturally he will be gaunt, somewhat dirty and probably 
quite tired. Brush him off nicely, put him in a place by himself and 
give him a drink of fresh water, after which give him a very light 
feed, only a little at first, of a nicely mixed ration of rich slop. Then 
let him alone until he is rested, or until the next feeding time comes, 
when you may give him a little more feed than you did the first time; 
thus you will gradually bring him up to his full feed. 



Notice on receiving the pig, if he seems constipated; if so, give him 
two tablespoonsful of Epsom Salts in his feed and let him take a little, 
exercise where there is some grass. 



It is a good thing when ordering a pig from a breeder, to ask how 
the pig has been fed, and if you can do so, continue about the same 
ration he has been getting. If you wish to change to a different system 
of feeding, do so very gradually, and you will not be disappointed. If 
you should overfeed the pig on the start, everything will go wrong, and 
you will be very much disappointed later. 



166 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 

Probably there is no business that requires character and intelligence 
in a man to a greater degree than the breeding of pure-bred stock of 
any kind. First, the young man when starting should know that he likes 
the business, and has made up his mind to follow it as a permanent 
business and to stick to it through thick and thin. This matter of 
stick-to-it-ive-ness is one of the principle elements a man should have. 
Next, he should be a man whose character is above reproach and 
absolutely honest. With these elements and a determination to succeed, 
he can build up a life business that is gratifying in every way. 



I believe a hog prefers green barley sown early in the spring to any 
of the other varieties of spring sown grain. Why this is I cannot ex- 
plain, but if a patch of oats and another of barley are sown early in 
the spring, side by side, and pigs turned into the two lots when the grain 
is a few inches high, they will eat the barley all off and give little 
attention to the oats, probably for the reason that the barley is more 
palatable. 



Prof. Carmichael, University of Illinois, states that a field had been 
planted with corn continuously for thirty-three years, and every year 
was "hogged down." Within the last year or two the owner desiring 
to learn the condition of the soil and how much corn this particular 
piece was producing after having been planted to corn for thirty-three 
continuous years, measured off a piece before turning in the hogs, and 
by actual measurement learned that the land was producing over 100 
bushels of corn to the acre. 



It behooves the thinking farmer to keep up soil production, especially 
during these days of high priced land, and this can be done profitably 
and economically by "hogging down" corn, especially if rape or some 
■of the clovers or other grasses, or some of the grains like rye, is sown 
in the field when the corn is laid by. This will give a good balanced 
ration, and the hogs will do the harvesting themselves without cost to 
the farmer, and will doubtless, taking one year with another, bring the 
selling price of his corn up to an average of not less than $1.00 a 
Jjushel. 



There are many little things in the hog business, if one will try them 
ont, that are not only more economical but are less work than the old 
methods. ' 



A man who would make a false pedigree would do anything else false 
that came to his mind, and should not last long as a breeder of pure- 
bred hogs of any breed. In other words the pedigree should be a 
guarantee that only such animals were used in producing the particular 
individual, as really were used. 



INDEX 



Page No. 

Advertising 120-122 

Alfalfa, third cutting for winter 12 

Alfalfa, rack for feeding 91 

Barley, sown early 24 

Barley, preferred to other spring sown grains 24 

Breeders, pattern after success of 33 

Breeders, wise ones open minded 31 

Breeding, age, time and season for 42- 44 

Breeding crate, use of 44 

Breeding dates, importance of keeping 56 

Brood sow, buy one good one rather than half dozen common ones 33 

Brood sows, care of, from breeding season until weaning of pigs. . 56- 61 

Brood sows, description of 39 

Brood sows, in pasture between seasons 60 

Brood sows, nervous ones 56 

Brood sows, selection of 38- 41 

Brood sows, should carry blood of herd boar 35 

Canker sore mouth 149 

Carload pork hogs, value of uniformity 81 

Castrating 1 54-1 55 

Catalogues 121 

Coal Tar dip for canker sore mouth in pigs 149 

Coal Tar dip for mange 153 

Cob charcoal, how to make 90 

Correspondence 119 

Cracklings, use of 84 

Crates, shipping, proper sizes 114 

Crates, shipping, how to make 113-116 

Creep for pigs 70 

Cross breeding 74 

Crude oil, use in dip 69 

Curing the thick white fat pork 127 

Diseases of swine 1 45-153 

Dipping tank 69 

Farm plat, necessity of 14 

Farrowing crate 55 

Farrowing house, a modern (W. S. Corsa) 45- 52 

Farrowing time 53- 56 

Feeding, are you feeding right? 82- 83 

Feeding, experiments in self-feeding 83 

Feeding hogs for market 79- 81 

Feeding pigs separate from mother 59 

Feeding warm feeds in winter 88 



168 IXDEX. 

Page No. 

Feeds and feeding, practical 84- 91 

Feeds, cooking of 87 

Foreword (by DeWitt C. Wing) 5 

"Foul in the foot" 150 

Fountain, self-watering 27 

Gestation table 15G 

Growth, first hundred pounds the cheapest 71 

Ham and egg lunch loaf 126 

Ham balls ( 127 

Ham, baked 125 

Ham, boiled 126 

Ham, fried with egg 125 

Ham, receipe for curing 128 

Head cheese 125 

Herd boar, buy early , 77 

Herd boar, description of 34 

Herd boar, feed for 37 

Herd boar, handling of 36- 37 

Herd boar, necessity for exercise 37 

Herd boar, the selection of 34- 35 

Herd boar, selection of, for use on grade sows 77- 78 

Herd boar, separate lot from sows 37 

Hog cholera and its prevention (J. L. Thatcher) 131-144 

Hog cholera, treatment for 130 

Hogging down corn 85 

Hogging down wheat 86 

Home-cured products of the hog 123-129 

Hot water heaters, use of 88 

House, a very complete swine ' 17- 21 

House-cleaning 91 

Ideal hog farm, the 9-16 

Inbreeding, line breeding and cross breeding 74- 76 

Inbred animal, specimen pedigi'ee 76 

Inflammation of udder 151 

Introduction 6 

Judging swine shows 11 0-112 

Lard, home-made 128 

Line breeding 74 

Line bred animal, specimen pedigree 75 

Litter, size of 40 

Litter, value of one 30 

Loading chute 14 

Lousy pigs 69 

Lousy sleeping quarters 69 

Lovejoy, A-shaped hog house 16 

Lovejoy, portrait of 2 

Lovejoyisms 157-166 

Marking pigs 62- 67 



IXDEX. 169 

Page No. 

Markings, don't be a crank over 41 

Milk, amount for growing pigs 68 

Milk, amount to feed 99 

Mineral matter, importance of 70 

Molasses, the feeding of 99 

Pasture, great importance of 22- 25 

Pedigrees 118-119 

Pedigree expert, traces ancestry 30 

Pedigree, necessity of being prepared to show 107 

Pigs, attention needed during first six months 71 

Pigs, care Oi! 68- 73 

Pigs, care of for first three months after weaning 6S 

Pigs, carrying on after six months of age until marketing 72 

Pigs, how to treat on arrival home 116 

Pigs, other things necessary besides feed 69 

Pigs, in lots according to size 70 

Pigs, preparing for shipment 115 

Pigs, winter ^3 

Fig's feet 124 

Pig's feet, boneless 124 

Pig's feet souse 124 

Pickled side meat, how to cook 127 

Fleura-pneumonia 1^^ 

Proud flesh, how to cure 1^0 

Pure-bred breeder, what he should be 117 

Rape for pasture 23 

23 

151 



Rape, value of 
Rheumatism . . 



Runts, a sure way to have "^0 

cialt pork, fried 125 

Sausage, homemade 127 

Sausage, a profit in 123 

Shade, natural or artificial 24 

Showing, advantages of 93- 94 

Show herd, dressing for 102 

Show herd, exercise for ' 103 

Show herd, feeding while on the show circuit 104 

Show herd, the fitting of 97-100 

Show herd, handling while in the show ring 104-106 

Show herd, other things necessary besides feed 101-130 

Show herd, the selection of 95- 96 

Show herd, treatment on return home from shows 105 

Show animals, proper condition of 100 

Sire, best breeders use high priced 32 

Sire, importance of a good 29- 33 

Sire, infiuence of ( Prof. Plumb ) 31 

Sire, unfortunate use of cheap 32 

Skin diseases ^ 52 



170 Index. 

Sleeping quarters, use of crude oil in . 69 

Soiling 89 

Sore feet 149 

Sore mouths in young pigs 149 

Sore teats 152 

Spaying 155 

Stationery, style and quality of 122 

Sterility 150 

Sugar, the feeding of 99 

Sun room for little pigs 52 

System 119 

Tankage for young pigs • 68 

Tails, why young pigs lose their 146 

Thumps 147 

Typewriter, use of 119 

Water, necessity of plenty of pure 26- 28 

Water, use of hot in winter 88 

Wallows 69 

Weight for age of pigs 73 

Winter rye, use of 11 

Worms 145 

Word to exhibitor and Fair manager 107-109 






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